
Class. 
Book. 



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THE PEOPLE'S 



PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ; 





THE "LI 

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WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 



OP 



OHIO 



BOSTON : 
WEEKS, JORDAN AND COMPANY.. 

1839. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839, 

By Weeks, Jordan &. Co. 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.- 



1. K. ButU... .Printer.,.. 2 iScitool iSt... .Bus loa. 



^ 



ADVERTISEMENT 



The materials for the following " Life " 
have been chiefly derived from a work pub- 
lished in Cincinnati in 1824, entitled " A 
historical narrative of the civil and military- 
services of Major General William H. Har- 
rison, and a vindication of his character and 
conduct as a statesman, a citizen, and a sol- 
dier ; with a detail of his negotiations and 
wars with the Indians until the final over- 
throw of the celebrated chief Tecumthe, and 
his brother the Prophet. The whole written 
and compiled from original and authentic 

documents furnished by many of the most re- 
1* 



spectable characters in the United States ; by 
Moses Dawson." This is a thick octavo of 
nearly five hundred closely printed pages, con- 
taining many state papers, letters, and pub- 
lic documents, and furnishing a great mass of 
facts, but very ill arranged, and running fre- 
quently into a tedious and confused minute- 
ness. This book has long since been out of 
print, and to the general reader it could never 
have been a very inviting performance. 

Considerable use has also been made of a 
" Memoir of the public services of William 
Henry Harrison, of Ohio, by James Hall ;" 
published at Philadelphia in 1836. That 
work seems to have been hastily compiled ; 
its arrangement is very defective ; the main 
narrative is too much overlaid by unimpor- 
tant details, and it fails to leave any clear 
and distinct impression on the reader's mind. 
The reflections with which it is interspersed, 
are too trite and declamatory, and the rules 
of good taste are not always observed. 



The present narrative presents a brief and 
comprehensive, and it is hoped a clear and 
correct view of the wars and negotiations on 
our Northwestern frontier, from the adoption 
of the federal constitution till the close of 
the last war, by which event the power of 
the Indian tribes in that region was so broken 
as to leave them no longer a formidable ene- 
my. This is a part of our history full of in 
terest, though little known. These events 
are essentially connected with, and form in- 
deed a principal part of the life of General 
Harrison. 

Brought forward as that gentleman has 
been, as a prominent candidate for the presi- 
dential chair, by supporters not less respecta- 
ble for their numbers than entitled to aiten- 
tion for their patriotism, sound judgment, and 
knowledge of popular sentiment, some curios- 
ity must naturally be felt to know the history 
of his political services. His retirement from 



8 

public life for several years previous to his 
nomination as a presidential candidate, has 
thrown that history into the back ground, — 
and it is only by some such memoir as the 
present, that it can be brought forward again 
to the public recollection. 

In the compilation of this little work, the 
author has not aimed at a panegyric, but 
simply at a clear and candid statement of 
facts ; a statement however, it may be ob- 
served, which seems to prove that General 
Harrison possesses feelings, principles, and 
traits of character such as qualify him in a 
peculiar manner to fill with honor to himself 
and advantage to the country, the high sta- 
tion for which he has been nominated. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Harrison's birth, parentage and education — He is com- 
missioned as an ensign in the United States Army — 
State of things on the Northwestern frontier — St. 
Clair's defeat — Harrison is promoted to a Lieutenancy 
— Is appointed aid to General Wayne — Operations of 
Wayne's Army — Harrison is appointed to the com- 
mand of fort Washington — His marriage. ... 13 

CHAPTER II. 

Harrison resigns his commission in the Army — Is ap- 
pointed Secretary of the Northwestern Territory — Is 
chosen delegate to Congress — His Land Bill — Is ap- 
pointed Governor of the Indiana Territory — His juris- 
diction and powers — Indian relations — Harrison's prin- 
ciples and method of Administration 37 



10 



CHAPTER III. 

Tecumthe and the Prophet — 'I'he Prophet's interview 
with Harrison — Treaty of fort Wayne — Dissatisfaction 
of Tecumthe and the Prophet — Tecumthe's visit to 
Vincennes — Extract from a message ^of Governor 
Harrison to the Legislature of Indiana 55 

CHAPTER IV. 

Prosecution for Slander — Aggressions of the Prophet — 
March to Tippecanoe — Battle of Tippecanoe. . . 88 

CHAPTER V. 

War with Great Britain — Circumstances which led to the 
appointment of Harrison to the command of the North- 
western Army — Extent of his authority — Difficulties to 
be encountered — Harrison's influence with the Militia — 
Anecdotes — Plan of the Campaign — Obstacles in the 
way — Harrison recommends the construction of a fleet 
on lake Erie— Battle of the river Raisin — End of the 
Campaign — Expedition against the Indians. . .110 

CHAPTER VI. 

Second campaign of the Northwestern Army — Siege and 
defence of fort Meigs — Second siege of fort 31eigs — 
Siege of fort Stevenson — Perry's victory — Embarka- 
tion of the Army — Battle of the Thames — End of the 
campaign — Harrison resigns his commission. . 147 



•% HI-.. 

11 



CHAPTER VII. 

Harrison appointed a commissioner to treat with the 
Indians — Is elected to Congress — He demands an in- 
vestigation of his conduct as commander of the North- 
western army — His militia bill — Pensions — General 
Jackson and the Seminole War — He is elected to the 
Senate of Ohio — Is chosen a Senator of the United 
States — Is appointed Minister to Colombia— His letter 
to Bolivar 171 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Employments of General Hairison since his recall from 
Colombia — His person and character — His letter to 
Harmar Denny 194 



./• f 



:\ « 



r. 



LIFE 



OF 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 



CHAPTER I. 

Harrison's Birth, Parentage and Education. — He is com- 
missioned as an Ensign in the United States' Army. 
State of things on the Northwestern Frontier. — ISt, 
Clair's defeat. — Harrison is promoted to a Lieutenan- 
cy. — Is appointed aid to General Wayne. — Opera- 
tions of Wayne's Army. — Harrison is appointed to the 
command of Fort Washington. — His Marriage. 

William Henry Harrison was born on 
the ninth day of February, 1773, in the coun- 
ty of Charles City, in Virginia, at a place 
called Berkley on the banks of the James 
River, some twenty-five miles below Rich- 
mond. He was the third and youngest son of 
Benjamin Harrison, a distinguished citizen of 
1 



14 

Virginia lineally descended from that Gene- 
ral Harrison, who made so conspicuous a 
figure in the English civil wars, and who held 
a high command in the armies of the Com- 
monwealth. 

Benjamin Harrison, was one of the rep- 
resentatives of the *' Old Dominion," in the 
Continental Congress, during the years 1774, 
J 775, and 177(3. He was the brother-in-law 
of Peyton Randolph, the first president of 
Congress : and on the death of that distin- 
guished patriot, it was the desire of many of the 
southern members that Mr. Harrison should 
succeed his brother-in-law, as the presiding offi- 
cer over that body. But he was well aware of the 
existence of strong sectional feelings and preju- 
dices both in Congress and the country at large. 
He was sensible of the danger of irritating 
those prejudices, and was desirous of improv- 
ing the opportunity now afforded to conciliate 
the northern members, and to secure their 
confidence. Accordingly he used all his in- 
fluence on behalf of John Hancock of Massa- 
chusetts, and succeeded in procuring for him 
a unanimous vote. 

Mr. Harrison was Chairman of the Com- 



15 



mittee of the whole House, when the Declar- 
ation of Independence was finally agreed to ; 
and his signature is annexed to that cele- 
brated document. In the year 1777, having 
been elected to the House of Delegates of the 
state of Virginia, he was chosen Speaker of 
that body, which office he continued to fill till 
1782, when he was elected Governor of the 
State. All these important trusts he dis- 
charged to the entire satisfaction of his fellow 
citizens. 

Benjamin Harrison did not accumulate a 
fortune in the public service. On the con- 
trary he expended his own private means, and 
left his children little other inheritance except 
bis example, and the friendship of many of his 
distinguished fellow-patriots. At the death of 
bis father, William Henry Harrison was un- 
der age. Robert Morris, the celebrated 
financier, at his father's request, had con- 
sented to act as his guardian. He had de- 
termined to follow the profession of medicine, 
and was diligently pursuing his studies, 
with that object, at Hampden Sidney college, 
when the ravages committed by the Indians 
on our northwestern frontier, and the oppor- 



16 

tunity afforded of serving his country in that 
dangerous quarter, induced him to adopt the 
idea of joining the army under General St. 
Clair, which had been raised for the purpose 
of bringincr the Indians to terms. His reso- 
lution with respect to this matter^ was strong- 
ly opposed by his guardian. But it was ap- 
proved by General Washington, then president 
of the United States, who had been the inti- 
mate friend of his father, and who gave him a 
commission of ensign in the first regiment of 
United States artillery, then stationed at Fort 
Washington on the Ohio, near the present 
site of the city of Cincinnati. Thus, at the 
early age of nineteen, William Henry Harri- 
son became intimately associated with the 
fortunes of the Northwestern Territory, and 
entered upon a long career of public service, 
in that quarter of the country. Before we 
follow him thither it will be well to take a 
general view of the state of affairs at that 
time upon the northwestern border. 

During the war of the Revolution, Great 
Britain succeeded in persuading almost all 
the Indian tribes along the whole frontier, to 
raise the tomahawk against the people of the 



17 



United States. Shortly after the elose of that 
war, several of these tribes were induced to 
enter into treaties of peace. But the Indians 
northwest of the Ohio, still retained all their 
former hostility ; and continued to carry on a 
murderous and desolating war, directed chief- 
ly against the western border of Pennsylva- 
nia, and the few scattered settlements which 
had been formed within the Northwestern 
Territory. 

The principal among these tribes, were the 
Miamies, whose various bands occupied, or 
claimed, an immense extent of territory, in- 
cluding allthatpartofOhio, westof the Scioto, 
all of Indiana, and a large portion of Illi- 
nois. Of this immense territory however, the 
greater part was entirely destitute of inhabit- 
ants. The various bands or tribes, into which 
the JMiamies were sub-divided, possessed nu- 
merous vdlacres on the Scioto, and about the 
head waters of the Great and the Little Mia- 
mi. There were also many villages, upon 
the Maumee, and its tributaries, and along 
the course of the Wabash, as low down as 
Vincennes. But the whole country, for a 
great extent, bordering on the river Ohio, 
1* 



J8 

was entirely destitute of inhabitants, and was 
used merely as a hunting ground. 

Next to the Miamies, may be ranked the 
Hurons or Wyandots, who occupied the 
southern shore of Lake Erie, including all that 
territory now known as the Connecticut Re- 
serve ; a small tribe, but enjoying a high re- 
putation among the northwestern Indians, on 
account of the desperate valor of its war- 
riors. 

In addition to these two tribes, there were 
also within the present limits of Ohio, and 
engaged in this war against the United States, 
the Delaivares, or Leni Lenapes who had 
gradually retreated before the white man, 
from their original seats on the banks of the 
river Delaware ; and the Shawnees, who, 
about the middle of the eighteenth century, 
had fled or emigrated from Georgia or Florida 

— driven out probably by some stronger tribe, 

— and had sought an asylum north of the 

Ohio. 

Besides the four tribes above enumerated, 
the Chippewas, Ottowas, and Polowatomies, 
who occupied the peninsula of Michigan, 
also took a part in the hostilities carried on 



19 



against the United States ; and these seven 
tribes united were able to bring into the field 
a very formidable force. 

It was generally believed, at that time, and 
no doubt it was the fact, that the hostility of 
these tribes asfainst the United States was 
stimulated, and that ammunition, arms, and 
other means of carrying on the war were sup- 
plied to them by the British authorities in 
Canada, throusfh the commandants of the 
forts at Detroit, Chicago, Mackinac, and other 
posts within the limits of the United States, 
which according to the provisions of the treaty 
of peace, ought long since to have been sur- 
rendered, but which were still kept posses- 
sion of by the British troops. 

The pretence or apology, for keeping pos- 
session of these posts, was founded upon the 
allegation, that the United States, or rather 
the individual States of the union, had neg- 
lected to perform that part of the treaty, which 
guaranteed the removal of all legal obstacles 
in the way of collecting debts due to British 
subjects which had been contracted previous 
to the war ; and as the whole value of these 
posts consisted in the influence which the 



20 

possessors of them were able to exert over the 
neighboring Indians, there is little doubt that 
the British government, by way of enforc- 
ing iheir demands on the subject of British 
debts, used every means in their power, to 
make the people of the United States feel the 
necessity of obtaining their surrender. 

The hostilities of these northwestern tribes, 
whether stimulated by the British, or origin- 
ating in their own love of war, became at 
length so annoying, that very soon after the 
re-or^anization of the government by the 
adoption of the federal constitution, the presi- 
dent resolved upon vigorous measures. In 
the year 1T90, General Harmer at the head 
of about fifteen hundred men, partly regulars, 
but principally militia, was sent against the 
northwestern Indians. He marched into the 
interior of what is now the stale of Ohio, and 
succeeded in destroying most of the Indian 
towns on the Scioto. But in two engage- 
ments between bodies of the Indians, and de- 
tachments of Harmer's troops, the Americans 
were defeated with considerable loss, Har- 
mer found it necessary to retreat ; and in a 
short time, the incursions and depredations of 



21 

the Indians along the frontier, became as 
troublesome as ever. 

This unfortunate state of affairs was brought 
before Congress at its next session, and an 
act was passed increasing the regular army, 
and enabling the President to raise two thou- 
sand men, under the denomination of levies, 
to serve against the Indians for six months. 
It was resolved to prosecute the war witk 
vigor, and General St. Clair, at that time 
governor of the Northwestern Territory, was 
appointed Commander-in-chief. 

The enlistment, however, and other pre- 
parations for the campaign went on but slow- 
ly; and the beginning of September had ar- 
rived before St. Clair was able to commence 
his march into the Indian country. He ad- 
vanced cautiously, opening a road, and build - 
inar forts at convenient distances. In this 
way he had arrived within about fifteen miles 
of the Miami villages near the head waters of 
the Wabash, when on the 4th of November, 
1791, about half an hour before sun-rise, he 
was suddenly attacked in his camp by a large 
body of Indians. The assailants pressed for- 
ward with great rapidity. Firing from the 



22 



ground, or the shelter aflforded by the trees, 
and scarcely seen, except when springing 
from one covert to another, they advanc- 
ed in front and upon both flanks, close upon 
the American lines, and up to the very 
mouths of the field-pieces. The militia who 
were posted in front were soon broken, and 
falling back upon the regular troops, threw 
them also into disorder. The officers, most 
of whom had seen service, exerted themselves 
to rally and re-form the men, and they par- 
tially succeeded. The Indians were twice 
driven back at the point of the bayonet ; but 
while they were pressed in one direction, 
their fire was poured in from every other with 
fatal effect ; and the whole army was soon 
thrown into confusion. A most disorderly 
retreat ensued. The Indians followed the 
flying troops for four miles, and then returned 
to plunder the camp. The army suffered 
most severely. Out of fourteen hundred men 
engaged, five hundred and thirty were killed 
and three hundred and sixty wounded. This 
battle was planned and commanded, on the 
part of the Indians by Meshecunnaqua, the 
Little Turtle, a celebrated Miami warrior, 



23 



and Buckongehelas, head chief of the Dele- 
wares. 

Young Harrison, as soon as he had re- 
ceived his commission of Ensign, hastened to 
join his regiment at Fort Washington, where 
he arrived shortly after the defeat of St. Clair's 
army. That defeat had been wholly unex- 
pected, and produced the greatest consterna- 
tion throughout the whole country. The de- 
fence of the frontier against the Indians, 
flushed with victory, and now more audacious 
than ever, devolved on a little handful of 
men. Winter was setting in ; and the hard- 
ships to be anticipated by those stationed in 
these distant posts were so great, that Harri- 
son, young, slender, and apparently of a feeble 
constitution, was advised by his companions 
to resign his commission, and so escape a ser- 
vice for which his organization, and early 
habits seemed to render him unfit. This ad- 
vice was at once rejected; and the energy 
boldness and capacity of the young officer, 
were soon put to the test. The firit duty 
confided to him, was the command of an es- 
cort having charge of a train of pack horses, 
bound to Fort Hamilton on the great Miami 



24 

some twenty or thirty miles north of Fort 
Washington. This duty was difficult and 
perilous, requiring great exposure, constant 
watchfulness, and more prudence and saga- 
city than is ordinarily to be expected from a 
youth of nineteen. However, the service was 
successfully performed, and in so able a man- 
ner, as to attract the attention, and elicit the 
applause of General St. Clair, the comman- 
der-in-chief 

At this time the vice of intemperance pre- 
vailed to a crreat extent amonsf the officers of 
the army. The extreme hardships of the ser- 
vice, and their removal from all the comforts 
as well as the restraints of civilized life and 
domestic intercourse, led many promising 
officers to indulge in excesses, which proved 
ruinous to their character, and destructive to 
their health. Young Harrison had the good 
sense to see and avoid these dangers ; and he 
now laid the foundation of those habits of 
temperance which have ever since adhered to 
him, enabling him to support the extreme fa- 
tigues of border warfare ; and giving him a 
degree of health and vigor which few men of 
his age enjoy. 



25 

In 1792, he was promoted to the rank, of 
lieutenant; and in 1793, he joined the new 
army under the command of General Wayne, 
which had been raised for the purpose of 
prosecuting the war against the Indians. 
This war had now grown into importance. 
The defeat of St. Clair had produced a great 
sensation ; and it had become highly neces- 
sary that some decisive steps should be taken 
for bringing it to a close. For this purpose 
General Washington had selected Wayne as 
St. Clair's successor, — an officer, who by 
his im.petuous valor, had acquired during the 
revolutionary war, the title of Mad Anthony ; 
but whose discretion and sagacity were equal 
to his courage. 

In May 1792, General Wayne having been 
furnished with instructions, in which it was 
emphatically declared "that another defeat 
would be inexpressibly ruinous to the reputa- 
tion of the government," proceeded to Pitts- 
burg for the purpose of organizing his army. 
By the laws which Congress had enacted on 
this occasion, an entirely new arragement was 
to be made. The army was to consist of one 
Major General, four Brigadier Generals, and 
2 



26 

their respective staffs, the commissioned offi- 
cers, and five thousand one hundred and 
tvrenty non-commissioned officers and pri- 
vates, the whole to be called the " Legion of 
the United States." St. Clair's army having 
been almost wholly destroyed, the Legion 
which never reached more than half the 
number of which it was intented to consist, 
had to be recruited almost wholly anew ; after 
which the men were to be disciplined and in- 
structed in their duty. This required time; 
and it was the 28th of November, before 
Wayne was able to move from Pittsburg. He 
descended the Ohio only about twenty-two 
miles, where he encamped for the winter. 
Being within striking distance of the enemy, 
the greatest watchfulness was necessary to 
keep the army in a condition for action and 
great efforts were required to teach the troops 
self-reliance and to prepare them to face the 
foe. This position, which was called Legion- 
ville, was strongly fortified and every precau- 
tion was taken to guard against surprise. 

In April, ]793, General Wayne broke up 
his encampment at Legionville, and conveyed 
his army in boats to Fort Washington, a post 



27 



which occupied, as we have already mentioned, 
thepresent site of the city of Cincinnati. Here 
Lieutenant Harrison joined the Legion. His 
spirit, enterprise, and sagacity, soon attracted 
the attention of General Wayne, who appoint- 
ed him one of his aids-de-camp, in which 
laborious and difficult post he served through- 
out the war. The army of Wayne remained 
the whole summer in the vicinity of Fort 
Washington, waiting for supplies and rein- 
forcements, and preparing for the ensuing 
campaign. In the month of October General 
Wayne took up a position about eighty 
miles from fort Washington, on the western 
branch of the Miami, and near the head wa- 
ters of that stream. This position was strong- 
ly fortified and called Greenville ; and here the 
army encamped for the winter. 

On the 23d of December, eight companies 
of infantry and a body of artillery were de- 
tached to take possession of the ground upon 
which St. Clair had been defeated. The 
bone? of the slain were collected, and interred 
with military honors; and a strong post called 
Fort Recovery, was erected on the battle 
ground. In the general order issued by the 



(^.-^ 



Commandcr-in-cbief, Litutenant Ilarrisan is 
mentioned, as particulaily entitled to coiti- 
niendation for his " roluniary aid and servi- 
ces" on this occasion. 

The next summer Fort Recovery was 
warmlv attacked bv a larije bodv of Indians. 
Though repulsed several times, they still 
renewed the assault, till iinally ihey were 
obliged to retreat with great loss. About tl»e 
middle of vTulv, 1794, having been joined by 
a l>odv of mounted militia from Kentuckv, 
Genera! Wayne pushed on seventy miles in 
advance of Greenville and established himselt 
at Gran^ Glaise. in the very heart of the In- 
dian territory. The British had lately erect- 
ed a fort in this vicinity, probably with the 
design of encouraging and supporting the In- 
dians ; — for tlie difficulties and disputes be- 
tween Great Britain and the United States 
had now reached such a point, that a war be- 
tween the tno countries seemed inevitable. 
In his despatches to the Secretary of War, 
General Wayne speaks of the country which 
he had now occupied, as the *' grand empori- 
um of the hostile Indians." *' The very ex- 
tensive aud highly cultivated fields and gar- 



29 

dens, show," he observes, **the work of many 
hands. The margins of those beautiful rivers, 
the Miami of the lake,* and the An Glaise, 
appear like one continued village for a num- 
ber of miles above and below this place ; nor 
have I ever before seen such immense fields 
of corn in any part of America, from Canada 
to Florida." 

Havino- erected a stroncr work, to which he 
gave the name of Fort Defiance, at the con- 
fluence of the Maumee and the An Glaise, 
the two rivers above described ; and being 
now prepared to strike a final blow, — agree- 
ably to his instructions, by which he was 
strictly directed to settle the difficulties with 
the Indians by negotiation if possible, — he 
made the enemy a proposal of terms. 

This proposal was rejected, notwithstanding 
the advice of that celebrated warrior the Little 
Turtle, who had commanded at St. Clair's 
defeat, and who recommended its acceptance. 
<■' We have beaten the enemy twice," he said, 
"under separate commanders. We cannot 
expect the same good fortune always. The 
long knives are nowyed^^by a chief who never 

* Now more g-enerally known as the Maumee. 
2* 



30 

sleeps. The night and the day are alike to him. 
During all the time that he has been march- 
ing on our villages, notwithstanding the 
watchfulness of our young men, we have nev- 
er been able to surprise him. Think well of 
it. There is something whispers me it would 
be prudent to listen to his offers of peace." 
This speech was delivered in a council of the 
Indians held the night before that battle, in 
which their forces were completely routed. 

By this time the army had advanced into 
the immediate vicinity of the rapids of the 
Maumee, near which was the newly erected 
British fort, and where the main body of the 
Indian forces was assembled. On the morn- 
ing of the 20th of August, General Wayne 
continued his march down the river, uncer- 
tain whether the Indians would decide for 
peace or war. After proceeding about five 
miles, the advanced corps received so severe 
a fire from the Indians secreted in the woods 
and grass, as to compel them to retreat. The 
legion was immediately formed in two lines, 
the right resting on the river, and the left 
extending into a thick and close forest which 
formed the principal part of the battle field. 



31 

For a considerable distance in front, the 
ground was covered with fallen timber uproot- 
ed probably in some tornado, amid which it was 
impossible for cavalry to act, and which af- 
forded the enemy a most favorable covert. 
The Indians were formed in three lines with- 
in supporting distance of each other, and ex- 
tending nearly two miles at right angles with 
the river. 

The mounted volunteers under General 
Scott, were ordered to make a circuit and to 
gain the right flank of the enemy ; while the 
troops of the first line, who were formed in 
open order, were commanded to advance with 
trailed arms, rouse the Indians from their 
coverts at the point of the bayonet, and as 
soon as they began to retreat, to pour in a 
close fire upon their backs, and to follow up 
with a brisk charge, so as to give them no 
opportunity of re-loading their rifles. 

This idea of charging the Indians, and so 
brino-ino- them at once to close quarters, was 
wholly new and original, with General Wayne. 
It proved entirely successful ; and has now 
become the established method of Indian 
warfare. The first line of the Legion ad- 



3f 



vaiiced with such rapidity, driving the enemy 
before them, that the other corps of the army 
had Httle opportunity to take a part in the en- 
gagement. In the course of one hour the 
Indians were driven more than two miles 
throucrh the thick woods above described. 
The Indians engaffed were thought to exceed 
two thousand ; while the infantry of the first 
line, fell short of nine hundred. The enemy 
soon abandoned themselves to flight, and dis- 
persed in every direction, and the contest ter- 
minated under the guns of the British fort. 
In his official account of the battle, General 
Wayne mentions with honor, his ''faithful and 
gallant aid-de-camp, Lieutenant Harrisofi 
as having rendered the most essential service 
by communicating orders in every direction, 
and by his coaduct and bravery, exciting the 
troops to press for victory." 

The army remained for three days on the 
banks of the Maumee near the field of battle, 
durinof which time the houses and corn-fields, 
for a considerable distance above and below 
the British fort were wasted and burnt — amonsj 
the rest, the houses, stores and other proper- 
ty of Colonel M'Kee, the British Indian agent, 



33 

who was regarded as the principal stimulator 
of the war. Of all tliis destruction iriHicled 
on their friends, the British garrison were 
obliged to remain tacit spectators. The 
troops afterwards returned by easy marches to 
Grand Glaise, laying waste the villages and 
cornfields of the Indians in every direc- 
tion. 

The spirit of the Indians was broken by 
the decisive victory obtained over them by 
General Wayne, and by the severe losses 
which they had suffered in consequence. The 
conduct also of the commander of the British 
fort, in declining to take any open part in 
their behalf, had disgusted many of the ))rin- 
cipal warriors. The celebrated chiefs, Little 
Turtle, and Buckongehelas, thenceforward 
renounced the British connection, and be- 
came the advocates of peace with the United 
States. On the first of January, J 795, the 
Indians commenced a negotiation with Gene- 
ral Wayne ; and the news of his victory which 
reached London in November, is said to have 
had considerable effect in inducinor the Brit- 
ish government to accede to tlie propositions 
of Mr. Jay, who was then employed in nego- 



34 

tiating the celebrated treaty which bears his 
name, — among other provisions of which 
was included the surrender of the Western 
posts. The negotiation with the Indians was 
considerably protracted, but in August, 1795, 
a treaty of peace was finally concluded at 
Greenville, by which the United Slates obtain- 
ed the cession of considerable tracts of land, 
and secured quiet and security to the border 
settlements. 

These events have been related with the 
more particularity, in order that the reader 
may have an opportunity to compare the con- 
duct of General Harrison when subsequently 
actintr as commander-in-chief, in the same 
regions, with that of those celebrated officers 
under whom he had previously served in a 
subaltern capacity. Sucli a comparison can- 
didly made, will place the conduct and ser- 
vices of General Harrison in a strong point of 
view. 

Shortly after the close of the campaign, 
Lieutenant Harrison was promoted to the rank 
of captain, and was placed in command of 
Fort Washino-ton, under circumstances, which 
show the confidence reposed by General 



35 



Wayne, in his talents and discretion. At 
this period, certain agents of the French gov- 
ernment were zealously employed in Ken- 
tucky in attempting to get up an invasion of 
Louisiana; and thus to embroil the United 
States with Spain, and force it into an alliance 
with France. This project was very alluring 
to the Kentuckians, who had long entertain- 
ed the most violent hostility towards the Span- 
iards, on account of their refusinij to the 
United States the free navigation of the Mis- 
sissippi. The government at Washington 
felt great apprehensions, lest the Kentuckians 
might be inveigled into some acts of hostility 
against the Spanish government. General 
Wayne was instructed with the management 
of this affair ; and among other precautions, 
he placed Captain Harrison in command of 
Fort Washington, with extensive discretion- 
ary powers to be used as circumstances might 
require. Among other things, he was in- 
structed to keep General Wayne advised of 
all movements, and to prevent the passage 
down the river of boats laden with military 
stores, belonging to the French agents. 

At this time the posts at the Northwest, 



36 

which had been so long held back by the 
British, were at length surrendered to the 
United Slates, under Jay's treaty. The 
troops intended to occupy these posts, together 
with their provisions and warlike stores, were 
sent to Fort Washington, thence to be for- 
warded through the wilderness. Captain Har- 
rison, was charged with this whole service, 
which he discharged with a prudence, abil- 
ity and intelligence, which justified the high 
trust reposed in him by the Commander-in- 
chief. 

While in command of Fort Washington, 
Captain Harrison married a daughter of John 
Cleves Symmes, the celebrated founder of the 
Miami settlements, and of the city of Ohio, 
a lady in whom he has ever found a faithful 
and affectionate companion. 



37 



CHAPTER II. 

Harrison resigns his commission in the Army. — Is ap- 
pointed Secretary of the JNorthwestern Territory. — 
Is chosen Deleg-ate to Cong-ress. — His land bill. — Is 
appointed Governor of the Indiana Territory. — His 
jurisdiction and powers. — Indian relations. — Harri- 
son's principles and method of Administration, 

On the death of General Wayne, in 1797, 
Captain Harrison resigned his commission in 
the Army, and received his first civil appoint- 
ment, that of Secretary of the Northwestern 
Territory, and cx-officio, Lieutenant Governor. 
General St. Clair still remained Governor of 
the Territory. 

Mr. Harrison's conduct as Secretary was so 
much approved, and so favorable was the im- 
pression made upon his fellow-citizens by his 
character and manners, that the next year, 
when the Northwestern Territory entered 
the second grade of government, (according 
to the system which then prevailed,) and the 
inhabitants became entitled to elect a Delegate 
to Congress, he was chosen to fill that office. 

What recommended him in particular to 
3 



38 

the choice of his fellow-citizens upon this oc- 
casion, was the stand he had taken, and the 
exertions he liad made, against the system of 
disposin<^ of the public lawds which then pre- 
vailed ; — a system highly detrimental to the 
interest of the new settlers, and which retard- 
ed the population, and checked the prosperity 
of the Territory. By the law as it then stood, 
the public lands could not be purchased in 
tracts of less than/owr thousand Kcxiis ; and as 
the minimum price was, at that time, two dol- 
lars per acre, it was utterly beyond the means 
of the vast majority of tiie new settlers to be- 
come possessors of land by an original pur- 
chase from the government. They were 
driven to the necessity of buying at second 
hand, and at great disadvantage. 

The injustice and impolicy of this exclusive 
system had struck Mr. Harrison very forci- 
bly. His daily observation satisfied him that 
it was adverse to the interests both of the 
government and the settlers ; and the stand 
he had taken upon this subject pointed him 
out to his fellow-citizens as a proper person 
to represent them on the floor of Congress, 
and to bring this question, in which they were 



39 

so deeply interested, to the notice of the Na- 
tional Legislature. 

Nor did he disappoint these hopes and ex- 
pectations of his constituents. Soon after he 
had taken his seat, he offered a resolution for 
the appointment of a committee with instruc- 
tions to inquire into and report, on the exist- 
ing mode of selling the public lands. He was 
himself appointed the chairman of this com- 
mittee, the only instance, it is believed, in 
which that honor has been conferred upon a 
Territorial Delegate. 

The Committee, in due time, made a re- 
port, accompanied by a bill, providing that 
the public lands should be sold thereafter in 
alternate half and (|uarter sections ; that is, in 
alternate tracts of 320 and 160 acres. This 
report, in the preparation of which Mr. Harri- 
son had been aided by Mr. Gallatin, after- 
wards Secretary of the Treasury, produced a 
powerful sensation, and when the report came 
up for consideration, led to a warm debate. 
The reasonableness, justice, propriety, and 
good sense, of the modification proposed by 
Mr. Harrison, is now so obvious that it will 
be acknowledged by all ; yet at that time it 



40 

was most violently opposed by many able men 
and leading politicians. The report was 
zealously attacked by Cooper of New York, 
and Lee of Virginia ; but it was ably defended 
by Mr. Harrison, who exhibited in his speech 
a perfect acquaintance with the whole subject. 
He fully exposed the folly and injustice of the 
old system, and demonstrated that it could 
benefit nobody except the wealthy monopolist, 
or the adventurous land-speculator; while the 
great mass of the people by whom the country 
was to be settled, would be driven by this law 
to the necessity of purchasing at an advanced 
price, and at second hand ; or what was more 
probable and more to be dreaded, would be 
reduced to the condition of a dependant ten- 
antry to a few wealthy proprietors, instead of 
being themselves free-holders of the soil. 

Mr. Harrison's eloquence and argument 
prevailed ; and the bill was carried triumph- 
antly through the House. But in the Senate, 
where the spirit of opposition to all popular 
ameliorations of the law, is always most pow- 
erful, a very strong opposition was made to it; 
and finally a committee of conference upon 
the subject was mutually appointed by the 



41 

House and Senate. The conferrees on the 
part of the House, were Messrs. Gallatiu and 
Harrison ; on the part of the Senate, Messrs. 
Ross and Brown. The conference finally re- 
sulted in a compromise, according to wliich 
the public lands were to be thereafter sold in 
alternate whole and half sections ; that is, in 
alternate tracts of 640 and 320 acres. This, 
though far from being all that Mr. Harrison 
and his constituents could have desired, was 
a very great improvement upon the old sys- 
tem ; and as about this time the tide of emi- 
gration began to flow pretty rapidly upon 
Ohio, the influence of this law upon the char- 
acter and fortunes of her inhabitants must 
have been very great. At the same time with 
the principal modification above described, 
several other minor, but important changes, 
were introduced into the land laws through 
the exertions of the delegate from the North- 
western Territorv. 

Another important bill was subsequently 
introduced into the House by Mr. Harrison, 
providing for an improvement in the method 
of locating military land warrants, the mode 
then in operation being very objectionable in 
3* 



42 

several particulars. This bill also became a 
law. 

At this session a bill was passed for divid- 
ing the Northwestern Territory. By this 
division, what is now the State of Ohio was 
made a Territory by itself, and the remainder 
of the Northwestern Territory received the 
name of Indiana, and was erected into a 
separate government. Mr. Harrison served 
in Congress but one year, having been ap- 
pointed, at the end of the session, Governor of 
the Indiana Territory. 

This vast tract of country, including what 
now constitutes the states of Indiana, Illinois, 
Michigan and the territory of Wisconsin, con- 
tained at that time but three principal white 
settlements, separated from each other by ex- 
tensive intervening forests. The first of these 
settlements, known as Clark's grant, was at 
the falls of the Ohio, nearly opposite Louis- 
ville, where is now the flourishing town of 
New Albany. The second was atVincennes, 
on the Wabash, distant from the first more 
than a hundred miles. The third was the 
French settlement along the banks of the 
Mississippi, in the tract now known as the 



43 

American Bottom, extending from Cahokia, 
nearly opposite St. Louis, some thirty or forty 
miles down the Mississippi toKaskaskia. This 
settlement was distant two hundred miles from 
Vincennes. 

The country to the north of these settle- 
ments was in the possession of the Indian 
tribes above described, among whom the 
Miamies were the most powerful ; and the 
imtervenino; tracts served as a sort of common 
hunting ground to the Indians and the whites. 

The only roads between the distant settle- 
ments were narrow beaten paths, without fer- 
ries or bridges. There were of course no 
houses of entertainment ; but here and there, 
alono- the road, some settler erected a sta- 
tion, consisting of a log house, surrounded by 
palisades. These stations afforded a resting 
place and asylum to travellers through the 
wilderness. 

The seat of government was Vincennes, a 
small village beautifully and advantageously 
situated on the Wabash. This town was orig^ 
inally built by the French, and the greater part 
of its inhabitants were of French origin. They 
were sufficiently well disposed to respect the 



44 

new authority placed over them, but were 
entirely ignorant of the language and the laws 
of the United States, preferring those simple 
institutions under which they had long lived. 

The population of the new Territory was 
very small ; and the form of government es- 
tablished over it by the act of Congress regu- 
lating the Territory, was what was then called 
the first grade of Territorial government; a 
system under which very extensive authority 
was placed in the hands of the governor. The 
governor, with the assistance of the judges, 
had the power o^ adopting and publishing- such 
jaws of the original states, civil and criminal, 
as might be necessary and best suited to the 
circumstances of the Territory. He had the 
appointment of all magistrates and other civil 
officers, and all militia officers below the rank 
of general. He also possessed the sole power 
of dividing the Territory into counties and 
townships. Besides this the governor was the 
agent and representative of the general gov- 
ernment, and kept up a voluminous correspon- 
dence with the cabinet at Washington, in 
reference to the affairs of the Territory. 

Another power of a very delicate character 



45 

was confided to the governor of Indiana ; that 
namely of confirming grants of land to indi- 
viduals having certain equitable claims. This 
power, so great, and so liable to be abused, 
was entrusted to the governor alone, without 
any check or limitation. No other officer was 
required to approve, to countersign, or even to 
record these grants. The application was 
made directly to the governor, and his sole 
signature vested a title. No formality or pub- 
licity was required ; and whatever secret col- 
lusion there might have been between the 
claimant and the governor, the title would 
still have been unquestionable before any legal 

tribunal. 

Such, however, was Governor Harrison's 
prudence, his scrupulous attention to the pub- 
lic interest, and his nice regard for his own 
honor, that none ever questioned or suspected 
his honest and just discharge of this delicate 
trust. Many men, under like circumstances, 
would have amassed splendid fortunes, by 
availing themselves of the facilities for specu- 
lation thus afforded ; but neither at this or at 
any other time did Governor Harrison, either 
directly or indirectly, make any use for his own 



46 



advantage of any knowledge of land titles^, 
gained in his official capacity ; nor has he ever 
owned a single acre of land, held under a 
title emanating from himself as the agent and 
representative of tlie general government. 

The governor of Indiana was ex-officio su- 
perintendent of Indian affairs, in addition to 
which he was appointed sole commissioner for 
treating with the Indians, — an appointment 
which carried with it a vast deal of trouble 
and labor. Soon after entering upon the gov- 
ernment of the Indiana Territory, Governor 
Harrison opened a communication with the 
Indian tribes, and was visited by most of the 
principal chiefs in the vicinity of Vincennes. 
The Indians made very heavy complaints of 
the conduct of the whites. They alleged that 
their people had been killed, their lands set- 
tled upon, their game destroyed, their young 
men made drunk, and then cheated of their 
furs, upon which they depended to procure 
blankets, ammunition, and other necessaries. 

The governor was well satisfied that the 
greater part of these allegations were true. 
The Kentucky settlers on the Ohio were in 
the constant habit of coming over into the 



47 

Indian territory, and destroying the game; 
and numerous murders, some of them of a 
very aggravated character, had been perpe- 
trated on the Indians. By the treaty of Green- 
ville, murderers were to be delivered up, or 
punished, on both sides. This part of the 
treaty, the Indians had faithfully performed. 
In the case of several atrocious murders com- 
mitted by the whites, the governor made 
every possible exertion to bring the culprits to 
justice ; but without success. They were 
either acquitted by the juries in the face of the 
plainest proofs, or else rescued from prison 
and enabled to escape. The frontier settlers, 
in fact, considered .the Indians to be as fair 
game as the wild animals of the forest. They 
did not regard the murder of an Indian as a 
crime. *' All these injuries," says Governor 
Harrison in a letter to the Secretary of War, 
under date of the 15th of July, 1801, "the 
Indians have hitherto borne with astonishinor 
patience. But though they discover no dis- 
position to make war upon the United Slates 
at present, I am confident that most of the 
tribes would eagerly seize any favorable op- 
portunity for that purpose. And should the 



48 



United States be at war with any of the Euro- 
pean nations, who are known to the Indians, 
there would probably be a combination of 
more than nine-tenths of the northern tribes 
against us, unless some means are made use 
of to conciliate them." The war with Great 
Britain fully verified all these anticipations. 

The governor was constantly engaged in 
attempts to put the affairs with the Indians on 
a better footing ; and Mr. Jefferson, then 
President of the United States, procured the 
passage by Congress of several laws designed 
to secure the rights and better the condition 
of the Indians. The sale of whiskey was pro- 
hibited ; and trading houses were established 
among them, by the government, for the pur- 
pose of supplying them with goods at cost, 
and protecting them against the frauds of the 
traders. Efforts were also made to induce 
them to apply themselves to the cultivation of 
the land. But all these philanthropic at- 
tempts were counteracted and defeated by the 
arts and intrigues of interested persons, who 
stirred up the prejudices of the Indians against 
things solely intended for their benefit ; and 
who, while they lived by the plunder of these 



49 



unhappy savages, had the cunning to assume 
the character of their best friends. The 
British and the American traders alike com- 
bined to poison the minds of the Indians 
asfainst the crovernment : and tlie reckless in- 
suits and abuse heaped upon them by the 
American settlers, afforded great color to the 
suggestions of the traders, that the pretended 
philanthropy of the American government, 
was merely a hypocritical disguise, under 
which was concealed the most hostile inten- 
tions and diabolical designs. 

In the year 1804, the governor succeeded 
in negociating a treaty with the Sacs and 
Foxes, tribes which had not been included in 
the treaty of Greenville. By this treaty, in 
addition to the peaceful relations established 
with these tribes, there was obtained the ces- 
sion of an extensive and valuable tract of coun- 
try, stretching along the Mississippi, from the 
mouth of the Illinois, to the mouth of the 
Wisconsin, includinof the whole rejrion between 
the river Illinois and the Mississippi, with a 
northern boundary, extending from the head 
of Fox river to a point on the Wisconsin, 
thirty-six miles above its mouth. This was 
4 



oO 



the largest tract of land which had ever yet 
been ceded by the Indians in one body. 

Some considerable cessions of land were 
also obtained from the Delawares and Pianki- 
shaws, by which a communication was opened 
between the different settlements of the Terri- 
tory. All that tract between the Ohio and 
the Wabash, as far north as the road from 
Louisville to Vineennes, was obtained by one 
treaty, and by a subsequent treaty, the Pian- 
kishaws ceded a tract extending from Vin- 
eennes westward to the settlements on the 
Mississippi. This tribe, which had been 
originally a branch of the Miamies, was now 
very much reduced in numbers, and the 
lands ceded, by the destruction of the game, 
had ceased to be of any use to them. For 
these cessions the Indians were compensated 
by certain annuities secured to them, most of 
which still continue to be paid. 

Shortly after the purchase of Louisiana, 
that country was annexed to the government 
of the Indiana Territory, and so continued 
for some time. This annexation gave to the 
jurisdiction of Governor Harrison a vast ex- 
tent, and increased the laborious duties of 
his station. 



51 



In 1805, the Territory of Indiana was 
raised to the second rank of Territorial gov- 
ernment, beincj allowed a Territorial House of 
Assembly, elected by the citzens, and a Dele- 
gate to congress. To complete the Territo- 
rial Leorislature, a Leo:isiative Council of five 
members was added, to be appointed by the 
president out of twice that number nomina- 
ted by the Territorial Assembly. Although 
the power of the governor was considerably 
abridged by this change, yet always partial 
to the rights of the people, he had exerted 
himself to bring it about, by which he gained 
the ill will of several leadinsj citizens of 
the 'J'erritory, who regarded the probable in- 
crease of expense and taxes as a decisive 
argument against the change. 

The address of the governor at the first 
ineetincr of the Territorial Lecfislature, is a 
document interesting in itself, and an excel- 
lent specimen of that superior clearness and 
■fluency of style in which all the state papers 
of General Harrison are written. We recrret 
that our limits do not enable us to lay it before 
the reader. 

The reply of the Territorial Assembly 



52 

clearly shows the high estimation in which 
the governor was held ; and is one among 
many proofs of that remarkable popularity 
with which his administration was always at- 
tended. In this respect we may observe a 
striking difference between General Harrison 
and most of our other Territorial governors. 
The powers vested in these governors, espe- 
cially according to the system which prevailed 
in Governor Harrison's time, are so extensive, 
and their authority is so nearly absolute, that 
in general, they have found it next to impos- 
sible to preserve any degree of popularity. 
The settlers, generally from the older slates, 
where they have been accustomed to a partici- 
pation in political affairs, are apt to grow im- 
patient at being governed by a man in whose 
appointment they have no agency ; and 
though a governor may give no just cause 
of complaint, a jealousy of his intentions, and 
a repugnance to his authority, will naturally 
spring up, unless the greatest caution and 
good judgment on his part be used to prevent 
it. The conduct of General Harrison seems 
never to have excited any such hostile feel- 
inors in the hearts of those over whom he ex- 



53 



ercised the functions of government. He 
appears to have possessed an unusual fac- 
ulty of conciliating, not only the respect, but 
the warm affections of those placed under his 
authority. This was owing not more to the 
sauvity of his manners, and the evident good- 
ness of his heart, than to the disinterested- 
ness, the moderation, and the wisdom with 
which he exercised the extensive powers en- 
trusted to him. In the appointment of al 
public officers, the judges only excepted, he 
appealed to the people ; and uniformly select- 
ed those who appeared to enjoy the confidence 
of their fellow-citizens. He acted upon this 
principle even to the sacrifice of private 
friendship and political feeling — having more 
than once appointed to office persons who 
were opposed to him in sentiment, both with 
recrard to men and to measures. He also re- 
fused to accept any of those fees, whether a 
governor or superintendent of Indian Affairs, 
which before his tinie had been customarily 
paid. The patronage of his office was thus 
rendered worthless, and its emoluments were 
much diminished ; but he secured what he 
4* 



54 



esteemed of more value — the confidence and 
affections of the people ! 

The method which Governor Harrison pur- 
sued in keeping his accounts with the gen- 
eral government was as simple as it was 
correct ; and in some particulars might be 
advantagiously imitated by the disbursing 
officers of the present day. He never kept 
on hand any amount of public money. When 
money was to be paid on the public account, 
he gave the person entitled to payment a 
draft on the War Department. A copy of 
the draft, and a receipt for the payment madcj 
were always forwarded to Washingtow in the 
same letter. These drafts on the War De- 
partment were always in demand, and were 
readily cashed by persons having remittances 
to make to the eastern cities. In this way 
the department was saved the risk and ex- 
pense of transmitting money to the West ; 
all long and complicated accounts, whether 
with the government, or with individuals, 
were avoided ; as well as all the temptations 
and embarrassments attendant upon the re- 
ceipts and disbursment of large sums of pub- 
lic money. 



55 



CHAPTER in. 

Tecumthe and the Prophet — The Prophet's interview 
with Harrison — Treaty of Fort Wayne — Dissatisfac- 
tion of Tecumthe and the Prophet — Tecumthe's visit 
to Vincennes -— Extract from a message of Governor 
Harrison to the Legislature of Indiana — Prosecution 
for slander— Aggressions of the Prophet — March to 
Tippecanoe — Battle of Tippecanoe. 

During the year 1806, some very remarka- 
ble influences began to develope themselves 
among the Indian tribes Northwest of the 
Ohio; by which all the plans of the General 
Government for civilizing and conciliating 
those tribes, were disturbed and broken up ; 
and by means of which the Indians were 
eventually involved in a war with the United 
States, which resulted in the ruin of many 
tribes, and their final expulsion from their 
homes and hunting grounds. 

Two twin brothers of the Shawnese tribe : 
Tecumthe, The Crouching Panther and Ol- 
liwachica, The Open Door, or as others inter- 
pret it, The Loud Voice, better known as 
the Prophet, seem to have formed a plan for 



56 



a general union of all the Indian tribes, for 
the purpose of preventing any further en- 
croachments by the whites, and for recovering 
a portion of the lands already lost. These 
two brothers, possessed between them, all the 
qualities and accomplishments necessary to 
give them an influence with the race to which 
they belonged. Tecumthe was a celebrated 
warrior ; but not less distinguished in the coun- 
cil than in the field. He was a darincr seora- 
cious, active, unscrupulous man, who stopped 
at nothing in the accomplishment of his pur- 
poses; but who preferred tact, management, 
and negociation to force. He was inspired 
with a high enthusiasm ; and with a deep ha- 
tred toward the whites, imbibed probably with 
his mother's milk. 

The Prophet is said not to have been a 
warrior ; but he was an orator more accom- 
plished and persuasive, even, than his brother; 
and what was of far greater importance to- 
wards the accomplishment of their mutual 
object, he was a medicine mmi, or magician of 
the highest pretensions, holding constant in- 
tercourse with the Great Spirit, .and claiming 
a vast and miraculous power over the opera- 
tions of nature. 



57 



Ignorance and superstition are always twin 
sisters; and accordingly we find that all sav- 
age nations are at once the slaves and the 
dupes of the most extravagant credulity, on 
the one hand, and the most impudent impos- 
tures on the other. Havincj made but few 
observations upon that regular and uninterrup- 
ted course, in which the operations of nature 
proceed, they are constantly ready to ascribe 
to accidental, supernatural influences, that 
which takes place according to fixed and reg- 
ular laws ; and with that self-conceit and 
self-importance which is so conspicuously dis- 
played in almost all systems of human opin- 
ion and belief, they readily adopt the idea, 
that some favored individuals may not only 
obtain a certain extraordinary power over the 
operations of nature, but may even establish 
a sort of influence and control over those 
very supernatural beings, who are the great 
objects of their reverence and awe. 

These wild opinions exercise a powerful 
influence even among the most sagacious of 
the savage warriors, — a circumstance at 
which we cannot be much surprised when we 
consider the extent to which similar supersti- 



58 



tions prevail even among the most civilized 
nations. This credulity is taken advantage 
of by a set of persons among the Indian 
tribes called medicine vieUy who are in gene- 
ral, to a considerable extent, the dupes of 
their own impostures, though they do not 
scruple, when occasion presents itself, to prac- 
tice the most barefaced deceptions upon 
others who are still greater dupes than them- 
selves. 

Such was Olliwachica, the Prophet; — 
though the pretensions which he set up were 
far more lofiy than those advanced by the 
generality of his profession. He announced 
himself as having been specially sent by the 
Great Spirit to reform the manners of the red 
people, and to revive all those old customs 
whicli had been discontinued by the too com- 
mon and frequent intercourse of the Indians 
with the whites. All the innovations in 
dress and manners which had thus been bor- 
rowed, were to be abolished : and they were 
promised the return of all the happiness and 
prosperity which their forefathers enjoyed, 
and of which they had heard their old men so 
often speak, provided they would implicitly 



59 



obey the will, and follow the advice of the 
prophet. He pretended to foretell future 
events ; declared that he was invulnerable to 
the arms or shot of his enemies, and promised 
the same inviolability to those of his followers 
who would devote themselves entirely to his 
service. 

By these lofty pretensions the prophet soon 
succeeded in securing the reverence, and ad- 
miration of many, not only in his own, but in 
several of the neighboring tribes ; and he pre- 
sently established himself at Greenville, on the 
borders of Indiana, and Ohio, upon the lands 
already ceded to the United States, where 
great numbers resorted to him to hear his 
preaching, listen to his revelations, and wit- 
ness his incantations and miracles. In the 
mean time Tecumthe was employed in trav- 
ellinop amono- all the tribes of the Northwest, 
spreading every where his brother's fame, and 
magnifying his supernatural power. It thus 
came about that the reputation of the prophet 
was generally greater at a distance, than in 
his own immediate vicinity. It often happen- 
ed that his followers, engaged in religious ex- 
ercises, and relying upon the power of the 



60 

prophet, neglected to provide the necessary 
means for their own subsistence, in conse- 
quence of which they sometimes approached 
the very verge of starvation. Dispirited and 
disappointed, the less persevering among 
them would feel their faith shaken, would 
quit the prophet, and return home. At these 
very times, reports would be prevailing at a 
distance of the abundance and luxury super- 
naturaliy prevailing in the prophet's camp. 
It was alleged and firmly believed that he 
caused pumpkins to spring out of the ground, 
as large as a house, and that he had the pow- 
er of causing corn to grow up suddenly and 
spontaneously, of so remarkable a size, that 
one ear would suffice to feed a dozen men. 
These wonderful stories, which found a ready 
belief among the superstitious and idle, were 
propagated in every direction by the in- 
defatigable exertions of Tecumthe ; and nu- 
merous devotees from the most distant tribes 
were continually flocking towards the prophet, 
and making good the places of those, whom 
disappointment, disbelief, or the love of 
change induced to quit him. 

Tecumthe and his brother applied their 



61 

most earnest efforts to bring over to their 
party, the chiefs of their own tribe, of the 
Delawares, and the Miamies, In this effort 
they had, on the whole, but little success. 
These chiefs did not feel inclined to surrender 
up all their authority and influence into the 
hands of two adventurers who claimed an 
authority from the Great Spirit, to control every 
thing. They openly accused them of imposture, 
and endeavored to open the eyes of those In- 
dians, whom a belief in the supernatural pow- 
ers of the prophet had attracted from a dis- 
tance. Not discouraged by this opposition, 
the two brothers applied themselves to un- 
dermine the authority and influence of the 
chiefs, by accusing them of having betrayed 
their trust ; sold their tribes to the white men ; 
and having caused all the calamities of the 
Indians by those cessions of land to which 
they had consented. 

With the Delaware tribe they went still fur- 
ther, and resorted to the most extraordinary 
method of ridding themselves of the oppos- 
ing chiefs. They preferred against these 
chiefs, the charge of witchcraft, an indefinite 
but terrible offence, which the Indians con- 



62 

template with such horror and alarm, that the 
mere accusation generally passes with them 
as a sufficient proof of guilt. Having wrought 
up the tribe to a high pitch of fanatical fury, 
the Shawnese intriguers succeeded in procur- 
ing the execution of Teteboxti, a venerable 
warrior, eighty years of age, and of one other 
of the obnoxious chiefs; nor is it at all certain 
to what extreme lengths they might have 
gone, had not their proceedings been inter- 
rupted, by the arrival of a special messenger, 
bearing a strong remonstrance against the 
murder of their chiefs, addressed by Governor 
Harrison to the Delaware tribe. This remon- 
strance put a stop to further executions. 

The operations of the prophet and his 
brother were continued, however, with the 
greatest perseverance and assiduity. The 
prophet appointed occasional seasonsof prayer 
and exhortation, which were continued for 
many days in succession ; and previous notice 
being given of the time at which they were to 
be held, the Indians of the most distant tribes 
flocked to hear tliem, frequently to the neg- 
lect of their corn-fields and other means of 
subsistence, so that the agents of the United 



63 

States were obliged to supply them with pro- 
visions to preserve them from starvation. 
Durincr these seasons, the devotees of the 
prophet seemed wholly possessed with a sort 
of religious phrenzy ; but their religious ex- 
ercises were always succeeded or intermixed 
with warlike sports, such as shooting with 
bows, throwing the tomahawk, and wielding 
the war-club. This combination of religious 
and warlike exercises, and especially this re- 
vival of the use of weapons of their own man- 
ufacture, plainly intimated the ultimate inten- 
tions of the prophet. 

The two brothers, with all their efforts, 
were not able to obtain a preponderating in- 
fluence with the Delawares and Miamies, 
among whom they were well known. But 
their influence with the more distant tribes, 
the Ottawas, Chippewas, Potowatomies, Kick- 
apoo and Winnebagos was very great ; and 
in the summer of 1808, the prophet removed 
his encampment to a spot on the banks of the 
Tippecanoe, a tributary of the Upper Wabash, 
— a place which was become known as the 
prophet's town, — with the design perhaps of 
beino- nearer to those tribes over whom he 



64 



possessed the greatest influence. This pur- 
pose he effected in spite of the opposition of 
the Delawares and Miainies, to whom the 
land behjnged, and who were very anxious to 
prevent his settlement upon it. 

About this time our relations with Great 
Britain assumed a very hostile aspect, and war 
seemed to be impending. The British Indian 
agents, and traders in Canada, anxious as it 
was supposed to strengthen themselves by al- 
liances with the Indians, had opened, as was 
generally believed, a communication with the 
prophet, and through him with all the Indian 
tribes. This circumstance caused the influ- 
ence of the prophet to be regarded as the 
more formidable, and his operations to be 
watched with a more jealous eye. 

The prophet, conscious of the suspicions 
which were entertained of his designs, and 
not yet ready to break with the Americans, 
resolved to practice a bold deception, and by 
the most positive protestations of his pacific 
intentions, to deceive if possible the vigilance 
of Governor Harrison. With this design, 
soon after his establishment at Tippecanoe, 
he sent a message to Vincennes in which he 



65 



complained bitterly of the misrepresentations 
of his views and designs which were circu- 
lated in the settlements, and promised shortly 
to visit the goveinor in person. In the month 
of August he made his appearance according- 
ly, and remained with the governor about two 
weeks. 

Shortly after his arrival, the prophet deliv- 
ered to the governor the following speech : 

"Father, It is three years since I first be- 
gan with that system of religion which I now 
practice. The white people and some of the 
Indians were against me ; but I had no inten- 
tion except to introduce among the Indians 
those good principles of religion which the 
white people profess. I was spoken badly of 
by the white people, who reproached me with 
misleading the Indians; but I defy them to 
say that I did any thing amiss. 

*' Father, I was told that you intended to 
hano" me. When I heard this, I resolved to 
remember it, and to tell my Father, when I 
went to see him, the whole truth. 

" I also heard that you, my Father, wanted 
to know whether I was God or man, and that 
you had said, if I was the former, I should 
, 5* 



66 



not steal horses. This I heard but I did not 
believe it. 

'* The Great Spirit told me to tell the Indi- 
ans that he had made them and the world, 
and that he had placed them in it to do good 
and not evil. 

" I told all the Indians that the way they 
were in was not good, and that they ought to 
abandon it ; that we ought to live agreeably to 
our several customs, the red people after their 
mode, and the white people after theirs ; par- 
ticularly that they should not drink whiskey, 
which was not made for them, but for the 
white people, who alone knew how to use it ; 
and that it is the cause of all the mischiefs 
which the Indians suffer. I bade them follow 
the directions of the Great Spirit, as it was he 
who made us. I told them to listen to noth- 
incr that is bad. I said to them — Do not 
take up the tomahawk should it be offered by 
the British or by the Long Knives. Do not 
meddle with anything that does not belong to 
you, but mind your own business and culti- 
vate the ground, that your women and chil- 
dren may have enough to live upon. 

" I now inform you that it is our intention 



67 

to live in peace with our Father and his peo- 
ple forever. 

" My Father, I have informed you what we 
mean to do, and I call the Great Spirit to 
witness the truth of my declaration. The re- 
ligion which I have established has been re- 
ceived by all the different tribes of Indians in 
this part of the world. They were once a di- 
vided people ; they are now one ; and they are 
all determined to practice what I have re- 
ceived from the Great Spirit and declared to 

them. 

" Brother, I speak to you as a warrior. 
You are one. But let us lay aside this char- 
acter, and attend to the care of our children, 
that they may live in comfort and peace. We 
desire you to unite with us for the preservation 
of both the red and white man. Former- 
ly when we lived in ignorance we were foolish, 
but now since we listen to the voice of the 
Great Spirit, we are happy. 

*' I have listened to what you have said to 
us. You have promised to assist us. I now 
request you in behalf of the red people, to use 
your exertions to prevent the sale of liquor to 
us. We are all well pleased to hear you say 



68 

that you will endeavor to promote our happi- 
ness. We give you every assurance that we 
will follow the dictates of the Great Spirit." 

This speech, so characteristic of the person 
by whom it was delivered, but at the same 
time so well calculated to obtain confidence, 
was followed up by a corresponding course of 
conduct. The prophet, often in the presence 
of the governor, harangued his followers ; 
and his constant topics were, the evils of 
war, and of whiskey-drinking. That upon this 
latter subject, the prophet had obtained a 
complete mastery over the passions and appe- 
tites of his disciples, was evinced by the fact, 
that by no persuasion could they be prevailed 
upon, under aay circumstances, to touch a 
drop of that liquor, which formerly was one of 
their greatest objects of desire. 

On the whole the governor was rather fa- 
vorably impressed by this visit of the prophet ; 
and was induced to regard him as a person 
disposed to use the vast influence which he 
had obtained over the Indians, for good pur- 
poses ; and capable of being employed as an 
instrument, for checking their most danger- 
ous vices, and promoting their civilization. 



69 



Soon after the return of the prophet to his 
town, notwithstanding all the pacific protesta- 
tions he had made, reports of his intention to 
attack the while settlements prevailed exten- 
sively, both in those settlements themselves, 
and among the Indian tribes ; and the num- 
ber of warriors whieh he often had at his 
town and under his control, was a constant 
source of apprehension and alarm. The 
prophet's town also soon became the refuge 
of all those Indians, to whatever tribe they 
might belong, who had committed depreda- 
tions of any kind upon the whiles ; and 
though in reply to the messages that were 
sent to him, the prophet always returned very 
civil and peaceable answers, it was impossi- 
ble to obtain from him the surrender of any 
of the depredators. 

Governor Harrison had long considered it 
a very desirable object, to obtain the cession 
of that tract of land which intervened between 
the settlements about Vincennes, and the ces- 
sion which had been made at the treaty of 
Greenville. Considerincr this to be a favora- 
ble time to effect that object, he obtained the 
necessary authority from the War Depart- 



70 

ment ; and in a Council held at Fort Wayne 
in September, IS09, he succeeded in gaining 
the as.sent to the cession of the Miamies, the 
Delawares, the Potavvatomies, and the Kicka- 
poos, — the only tribes who had the slightest 
claim of title to the land. The consideration 
for the cession consisted in certain annuities 
which the tribes concerned regarded as a 
satisfactory equivalent. 

This purchase, however, was soon made a 
great matter of complaint by the prophet and 
his brother. They set up the doctrine, that 
the Indian lands belonged in common, to all 
the tribes ; and that for a cession to be bind- 
ing, all the tribes must join in it. On this 
ground they denounced the treaty of Fort 
Wayne as invalid ; and threatened to kill 
all tiie chiefs who had been concerned 
in making it. They assumed every day 
a more hostile attitude ; and though they 
still professed the most pacific intentions, 
there was every reason to believe that they 
were only waiting for a favorable opportunity 
to commence hostilities. Their inf uence was 
considerably increased about this time by their 
success in gaining over the Hurons or Wyan^ 



71 



dots to their party. This was a small tribe, 
but though (e\v in numbers, they possessed 
great influence in the Indian council. The 
other tribes called them Unkles, and venerated 
thera for their superior talents and valor. To 
their custody was committed the great belt, 
which had been the symbol of union between 
the tribes during the late war wilh the United 
States, as well as the original duplicate of the 
treaty of Greenville, by which that war had 
been concluded. The prophet, conscious of 
the great advantage which he should derive 
from the adhesion of the Wjandots, sent them 
a deputation, expressing his surprise that a 
nation which had directed the councils of so 
many other tribes, and had always taken so 
leading a part in all wars and negotiations 
with the whites, should sit still, and allow 
two or three tribes to cede away lands which 
belonged to all the Indians in common. He 
requested also to see the treaties in their pos- 
session ; being anxious to know what they ac- 
tually contained. 

The Wyandots replied, that they had care- 
fully preserved the belt which formerly united 
all the tribes as one nation ; but it had re- 



72 

mained so long in their hands, without any 
inquiry being made about it, that they had 
supposed it was forgotten. They were glad 
however, that at length it was called for. For 
themselves, they were tired of their present 
situation ; they wished with all their heart, 
to see all the tribes united again as one man. 
Everything done since the treaty of Green- 
ville, they looked upon as good for nothing ; 
and they were ready to join with the prophet in 
bringing the tribes together, and uniting them 
so as to put a stop to the encroachments of 
the while people, and to attempt the recovery 
of what had been unjustly taken from them. 
They had been pushed back until they could go 
no further; and they might as well die where 
they were, as be driven among those dis- 
tant and hostile tribes who would probably 
kill them. 

This answer of the Wyandots, the'prophet 
immediately circulated in every direction, and 
it produced a strong impression in his favor. 
Even some of the Miami chiefs were so intim- 
idated by the reproaches of the Wyandots 
who passed through their village, on their 



7 



73 

wa}^ to the prophet, as to consent to attend a 
general meeting at the prophet's town. 

The influence which this person acquired, 
and the readiness with which his views were 
adopted by the Indians was but natural. 
At this time the Indians of the Northwest — 
especially those tribes nearest to the white 
settlements, ™ were in a wretched condition, 
The game which formerly was so abun- 
dant, was now become so scarce, in many 
parts of the country, as hardly to afford sub- 
sistence to the most active hunters ; and a 
large part of each tribe was often in a state of 
starvation. Even the European war was felt 
in its consequences by these Indians, and 
tended to aggravate their sufferings. The 
commercial exclusion of the Enorlish from the 
continent, — where the greater part of the 
American furs had usually been disposed of, 
— had so reduced the price of those articles, 
that the Indians could hardly procure with the 
produce of their year's hunt, the necessary 
ammunition for the next year. Whiskey, 
which in spite of all attempts to prevent it, 
was sold profusely among them, produced its 
usual ravages ; and the conciliatory efforts 
6 



74 

and benevolent intentions of the general 
government were constantly neutralized by 
the conduct of the settlers, most of whom 
were inspired with a bitter hatred and detes- 
tation of the Indians, and a total disregard of 
their feelings and rights. It is true that a 
war with the United States was more likely to 
aggravate than to remedy all these evils, — 
a consideration which had great weight with a 
portion of the Indians, and which operated to 
restrain theni from hostilities; but a consid- 
eration which was little regarded by the more 
fanatical followers of the prophet, who placed 
implicit confidence in the prophecies of their 
leader, and who fondly relied upon the effect 
of his supernatural intimacy with the Great* 
Spirit. 

Governor Harrison, however, was for a long 
time incredulous as to the actual danger of a 
war; though the reports of hostile intentions 
which came in from every quarter, induced 
him to make such preparations as were in his 
power, to guard against its effects. He did 
not doubt that war had been thought of and 
talked about ; but he supposed that the fears 
and the prudence of the Indians, would pre- 



it 



vail over their inclination for hostilities. To 
ascertain if possible, the real intentions of the 
prophet, he sent several messengers to his 
town ; and finally invited him and his brother 
to make a visit to Vincennes. 

Tecumthe came accordingly ; and though the 
governor, who had no great confidence in his 
good faith, had particularly requested him not 
to bring above thirty attendants, he brought 
with him four hundred warriors completely 
armed. About forty of these warriors were 
present at the Council holden on the 12th of 
AufTust. The aovernor was attended by the 
Judges of the Supreme Court, several officers 
of the army, Winnemack, a friendly chief of 
thePotowatomies, and a considerable number 
of unarmed citizens. A guard consisting of a 
Serjeant and twelve men, were placed near 
the governor; but as in that position they 
were exposed to the sun, he sent them to a 
shade at some distance. 

TeciHTithe opened the Council by a speech, 
in which the designs of himself and his broth- 
er were fully avowed. He declared that it was 
their object to form a combination of all the 
tribes, for the purpose of putting a stop to fur- 



76 

ther encroachments on the part of the whites, 
and to establish it as a principle that lands 
were to be considered the common property 
of all the tribes, never to be sold without the 
consent of all. He avowed the intention 
of putting to death all those chiefs who had 
been concerned in any of the late treaties. 
But still, with a strange inconsistency, he 
persisted in the assertion, that he and his 
brother had no intention of making war ; and 
declared that they v/ho had given this inform- 
ation to the governor were liars. This was par- 
ticularly aimed at Winnemack, who had often 
communicated to the governor the designs of 
the prophet, and who was now overwhelmed 
w\ih such a torrent of threats and abuse by 
Tecumthe, that lie secretly charged a pistol 
which he held in his hand, and stood ready to 
defend his life. 

In rej)ly, the governor ridiculed the asser- 
tion of Tecumthe that the Great Spirit had in- 
tended the Indians to be one people, — for if 
so, why had he put different tongues into 
their heads, instead of giving them one lan- 
o-uaore which all mi^ht understand ? As to 

too ~ 

the land in dispute, it had been bought of the 



77 

Miamies, who owned it at a time when the 
Shawnese lived in Georgia. They had seen 
fit to sell it ; and what business had the 
Shawnese to come from a distant country and 
undertake to control them in the disposal of 
their own property ? Here the governor stop- 
ped to give the interpreters an opportunity to 
explain to the Indians what he had said. 
The interpreter to the Shawnese had con- 
cluded, and the interpreter to the Potawato- 
mies was just about to begin, when Tecumthe 
rose, interrupted the interpreter, and com- 
menced speaking in a very violent manner, and 
with the most vehement gesticulations, de- 
claring that all the governor had said was 
false, and that he and the United States had 
cheated and imposed upon the Indians. He 
had spoken but a few minutes, when his war- 
riors seized their arms, sprung upon their feet, 
and began to brandish their tomahawks and 
war -clubs, their eyes all fixed upon the govern- 
or. He immediately rose from the arm-chair in 
which he was sittinix, and drew a sword which 
he had by his side. The chief Winnemack 
cocked his pistol, some of the officers drew 
their weapons, and the unarmed citizens 
6* 



78 

caught up brick-bats and other missiles, and 
stood upon the defensive. Daring this singu- 
lar scene, no one spoke, till the guard came 
running up and were about to fire, when the 
governor ordered them to stop. He then de- 
manded from the interpreter an explanation 
of what had happened, and received from him 
an account of what Tecumthe had said. 
Turning then to Tecumthe, the governor 
told him that he was a bad man, and that he 
would hold no further communication with 
him. As he had come under the protection of 
the council-fire, he might depart in safety, but 
he must instantly leave the neighborhood. 
Thereupon the Council was immediately 
broken up, and Tecumthe retired to his 
camp. 

That ni^ht the militia of Vincennes were 
all under arms in expectation of an attack, 
but none was made. Tecumthe, finding that he 
had to do with a man of firmness and sagacity, 
who could not be disconcerted by his insolence, 
nor intimidated by his violence, professed the 
next morning, the greatest regret for the im- 
proprieties into which he had been betrayed 
the day before, and requested a second inter- 



79 



view with the governor. The behaviour of 
Tecumthe at this second interview, was very 
different from what it had been the day he- 
fore. His deportment was dignified and col- 
lected, and he showed not the least disposition 
to be insolent. He denied any intention of at- 
tacking the governor, but said he had been 
advised by white people to take the course he 
had adopted. They had told him, that half 
the whites were opposed to the purchase ; 
and if he made a vioforous resistance to the 
execution of the treaty of Fort Wayne, the 
governor would soon be recalled and a good 
man put in his place, who would give up the 
land. Being asked by the governor if he in- 
tended to prevent the survey of the new pur- 
chase, he replied that he and his friends were 
determined to adhere to the old boundary. 

After Tecumthe had finished, a Wyandot, 
a Potowatomie, an Ottawa, a Kickapoo, and 
a Winebago, severally spoke. They declared 
that their tribes had entered into the Shaw- 
nese confederacy, and that they would support 
the principles laid down by Tecumthe, whom 
they had appointed their leader. In conclu- 
sion, the governor informed the Indians, that 



80 

he would lay before the President, a state- 
ment of their pretensions to the land in dis- 
pute ; but that he was well satisfied that the 
President never would admit that they had 
any thing to do with the sale by the Miamies, 
of lands possessed and occupied by them, ever 
since the country had been known to white 
men ; and that the title of the United States 
to the land in question, would be sustained, if 
need were, by the sword. 

Very anxious to discover the real senti- 
ments and intentions of Tecumthe, the gov- 
ernor afterwards paid him a visit at his camp, 
attended only by an interpreter. He was 
very politely received, and conversed a long 
time with the chief. Being questioned on 
that point, Tecumthe declared that his inten- 
tions were really such as he had avowed in 
the councils. He was very loath, he said, 
to go to war with the United States, and if 
they would give up the land in dispute, and 
agree never to make another treaty without 
the consent of all the tribes, he would be their 
faithful ally, and assist them in their wars 
with the British. He said he knew well that 
the British were urging the Indians to make 



81 



war upon the Americans, not out of any re- 
gard they had for the welfare of the Indians, 
but merely for purposes of their own. Nev- 
ertheless, if the United States would not com- 
ply with his terms, he should be obliged to 
unite with the Enjilish. 

The governor told him that he would in- 
form the President of his views; but added, 
that there was not the least probability of his 
terms being acceded to. *' Well," said Te- 
cumthe, " as your great chief is to determine 
this matter, I hope the Great Spirit will put 
sense enough into his head, to make him give 
up the land. It is true, he is so far off, he 
will not be injured by the war. He may sit in 
his town and drink his wine, whilst you and I 
will have to fight it out." 

The following statement of the facts of the 
controversy with the prophet and Tecumthe 
growing out of the treaty of Fort Wayne, is 
extracted from the message of Governor Har- 
rison to the territorial Legislature of Indiana 
at its session during the winter of 1810. It 
contains so clear and distinct a view of the 
whole dispute, as to deserve an insertion in 
ibis place. 



82 

" Presenting as we do, a very extended 
frontier to numerous and warlike tribes of the 
aborigines, the state of our relations with them 
must always form an important and interest- 
ing feature in our local politics. It is with 
regret that I have to inform you that the har- 
mony and good understanding, which it is so 
much our interest to cultivate with those of onr 
neighbors, have, for some time past, experi- 
enced a considerable interruption, and that 
we have been threatened with hostilities by a 
combination, formed under the auspices of a 
bold adventurer, who pretends to act under the 
immediate inspection of the Deity. His 
character as a prophet would not, however, 
have given him any very dangerous influence, 
if he had not been assisted by the intrigues 
and advice of foreign agents, and other dis- 
affected persons, who have for many years 
omitted no oportunity of counteractincr the 
measures of government with regard to the 
Indians, and filling their naturally jealous 
minds with suspicion of the justice and in- 
tegrity of the views towards them. The cir- 
cumstance laid hold of to encourage disaf- 
fection on the late occasion was, the treaty 



83 



made by me at Fort Wayne, in the autumn 
of last year. Among the difficulties to be 
encountered in obtaining those extinguish- 
ments of title which have proved so beneficial 
to the treasury of the United States, and so 
necessary as the means of increasing the 
population of the Territory, the most formida- 
ble was that of ascertaining the tribes to be 
admitted as parties to the cession. The sub- 
ject was accordingly discussed in a long cor- 
respondence between the government and 
myself; and the principles finally adopted 
were made as liberal towards the Indians, as 
a due regard to the interests of the United 
States would admit. Of the tribes which had 
formed the confederacy in the war, which 
was terminated by the peace of Greenville, 
some wore resident upon lands which had 
been in possession of their forefathers at the 
time the first settlements were made in Amer- 
ica by white people; whilst others, emi- 
grants from distant parts of the country, had 
no other claim to the tracts they occupied, 
than what a few years' residence, by the 
tacit consent of the real owners, could give. 
Upon common and general principles, a 



84 

transfer of the title of the former description^ 
would have been sufficient to vest in the pur- 
chaser, the legal right to lands so situated. 
But in all its transactions with the Indians, 
our government have not been content with 
doing that which was just only. Its savage 
neighbors have, on all occasions, experienced 
its liberality and benevolence. Upon this 
principle, in several of the treaties which 
have been made, several tribes have been ad- 
mitted to a participation of their benefits, 
who had no title to the lands ceded, merely 
because they have been accustomed to hunt 
upon, and derive part of their support from 
them. For this reason, and to prevent the 
Miamies, who were the real owners of the 
land, from experiencing any ill effects from 
their resentment, in case they were excluded, 
the Belawares, Potowaiomies, and Kickapoos 
were made parties to the late treaty of Fort 
Wayne. No other tribe was admitted, be- 
cause it had never been suggested that any 
other could plead even the title of use and 
occupancy of the lands, which at that time 
were conveyed to the United States. It was 
not until eight months after the conclusion of 



85 



the treaty, and after his design of forming a 
hostile combination asjainst the United States, 
had been discovered and defeated, that the 
pretensions of the prophet, with regard to the 
lands in question, were made known. A fu- 
rious clamor was then raised by the foreign 
agents among us, and other disaffected per- 
sons, against the policy which had excluded 
from the treaty this great and influential 
character, as he was termed ; and the doing 
so was expressly attributed to personal ill 
will on the part of the negociator. No such 
ill will did, in fact, exist. I accuse myself in- 
deed of an error, in the patronage and sup- 
port which I afforded him, upon his first arri- 
val on the Wabash, before his hostility to the 
United States had been developed ; but upon 
no principle of propriety or policy would he 
have been made a party to the treaty. The 
personage called the prophet, is not a chief 
of the tribe to which he belongs, but an out- 
cast from it, rejected and hated by the real 
chiefs, the principal of whom was present at 
the treaty, and not only disclaimed upon the 
part of his tribe, any title to the lands ceded, 
but used his personal influence with the chiefs 



86 

of the other tribes, to effect the cession. As 
soon as I was informed that his dissatisfaction 
at the treaty was assigned as the cause 
of the hostile attitude which the prophet 
had assumed, I sent to inform him, that 
whatever claims he might have to the lands 
which had been purchased by the United 
States, were not in the least affected by that 
purchase ; that he might come forward and 
exhibit his pretensions, and if they were really 
found to be just or equitable, the lands would 
be restored or an ample equivalent given for 
them. His brother was deputized and sent to 
me for that purpose ; but far from being able 
to show any color of claim, either for himself 
or any of his followers, his objections to the 
treaty were confined to the assertion, that all 
the land upon the continent was the common 
property of all the tribes, and that no sale of 
any part of it would be valid, without the 
consent of all. A proposition so extremely 
absurd, and which would forever prevent any 
further purchase of lands by the United 
States, could receive no countenance from 
any friend to his country. He had, however, 
the insolence to declare, that by the acknowl- 



87 

edgment of that principle alone could the ef- 
fects of his resentment be avoided. No person 
who is in the least acquainted with the his- 
tory of Indian affairs upon our Northwestern 
frontier for some years past, can be at any loss 
for the source of all this mischief, or will hes- 
itate to believe that the prophet is a tool of 
British fears or British avarice, employed for 
the purpose of forming a combination among 
the Indians, which in case of war between 
that power and the United States, may assist 
them in the defence of Canada ; or at all 
events may be employed as a means of keep- 
ing back our settlements, and by rendering us 
suspected and hated by the natives, secure to 
themselves a continuance of the valuable fur 
trade, which they have so long engrossed." 



88 



CHAPTER IV. 

Prosecution for Slander — Aggressions of the Prophet — 
March to Tippecanoe — Battle of Tippecanoe. 

However acceptable to the people of the 
Territory, was the condact of tlie governor, 
both in reference to its internal affairs, and to 
Indian relations, there was, as always happens 
in such cases, a small but extremely active 
party, diligently employed in counteracting 
or embarrassing all his measures. To the 
conduct and complaint of these persons, there 
are several allusions in the extract above 
given from the governor's message. In the 
territory, where the character and motives of 
these persons were known, the reports which 
they might put in circulation could do little 
mischief But as these calumnies beofan to 
be repeated in distant parts of the country, 
and even found their way into the halls of 
Congress, governor Harrison considered it 
due, both to his own character and to that of 
the general government, to bring the matter 
to the test, and to procure an examination of 



89 

his conduct in relation to the treaty of Fort 
Wayne, while the subject was still fresh, and 
the proofs within reach. Believing an inves- 
tigation by a court of justice the most effectu- 
al means of a thorouorh investiijation, he 
commenced an action for slander in the Su- 
preme Court of the territory against one 
M'Intosh, a Scotchman, of large property at 
Vincennes, who had long been hostile to him, 
and indeed was believed not to be very warm- 
ly attached to the government of the United 
States. This person had asserted that the 
governor had cheated the Indians in the 
treaty at Fort Wayne ; and for this slander 
the action was brought. Every means was 
taken to ensure an impartial trial. Of the 
three judges, one left the bench because he 
was the personal friend of the governor, and 
another because he was the personal friend 
of the defendant ; and the trial was solely 
conducted by the third judge, who had re- 
cently arrived in the territory, and was but 
slightly acquainted with either of the parties. 
To ensure an impartial jury, the Court ap- 
pointed two persons, who returned a pannel 
of forty-eisrht jurors. From this forty-eight 
7*' 



90 

the plaintiff and defendant each struck 
twelve, and from the remaining twenty-four 
the jury was selected by lot. 

Every person concerned in the Indian 
department, or who could know anything 
of the circumstances attending the negocia- 
tion of the treaty of Fort Wayne, was exam- 
ined, and every latitude was allowed the de- 
fendant in the examination. Finding that 
they could make out nothing against the 
treaty, the defendant's counsel began to ask 
questions respecting the governor's civil ad- 
ministration. To this the Court objected, as 
being irrevalent to the point in issue; but at 
the earnest solicitation of the governor, the 
defendant was permitted to pursue his own 
course, and to ask questions on all points 
which he thought proper. The examination 
of witnesses having closed, the defendant's 
counsel abandoned all idea of justification, and 
contended only for a mitigation of damages. 
The jury returned a verdict of $ 4,000 
against the defendant, an immense verdict, 
in a new country, where money was scarce, 
and where damages given by juries, in gen- 
eral, are very small. 



91 

To satisfy this judgment, a large amount 
of the defendant's lands were exposed to sale, 
and in the absence of the governor, in the 
command of the army, the ensuing year, 
they were bought in by his agent. Two 
thirds of this property the governor after- 
wards returned to M'lntosh ; and the re- 
maiiider he distributed among the orphan 
children of several distinn-uished citizens, 
who fell in the service of their country, in the 
war of 1812. 

Tecumthe and the prophet still continued 
their hostile preparations ; and the aggres- 
sions on the whites, committed by persons 
whom they encouraged and protected, became 
every day more aggravated. Horses were 
stolen, houses were plundered, families were 
murdered, and the whole frontier was thrown 
into a state of agitation and alarm. The 
governor sent a speech to the prophet, in- 
forming him of the terror which his proceed- 
ings excited among the people of the territory, 
and assuring him that he must desist, otherwise 
the United States would be beforehand with 
him in commencino^ hostilities. This mes- 
sage produced a second visit from Tecumthe, 



92 

who however gave no satisfaction ; and who 
soon departed on a journey to the South, in 
the hope of persuading the southern Indians, 
to join in his confederacy. His mother was a 
Creek, a circumstance on which he placed 
much reliance ; and it is certain, that some 
two years later, he induced the Creeks to 
raise the hatchet asainst the United States. 

Under these circumstances, greatly to his 
own satisfaction, and that of the people 
of the territory, the governor received in- 
structions to move towards the prophet's 
town with an armed force. He was implicitly 
required however to avoid hostilities, '' of any 
kind, or to any degree, not absolutely neces- 
sary." These latter instructions placed the 
governor in a very delicate position, and gave 
every advantage to those against whom he 
was to act. He was to march upon the 
prophet's town, but was not to fight unless 
obliged to. This secured to the prophet the 
opportunity of choosing the time and place of 
attack, of selecting his own ground, and 
strikinst the first blow. 

The troops for this expedition were col- 
lected at Fort Harrison, on the Wabash, 



93 



about sixty miles above Vincennes. They 
consisted of the Fourth Regiment of United 
States infantry, under Colonel Boyd, 350 
strong, and about 550 volunteer militia, in- 
cluding a squadron of dragoons, and three 
companies of mounted riflemen. The volun- 
teers were principally from Indiana, but some 
sixty or seventy were from Kentucky, including 
several gentlemen of distinguished reputation 
in that State, and several young men who 
gained much credit by their services in the 
subsequent war with Great Britain. 

The Delawares still adhered to the inter- 
ests of the United States, and the governor 
had sent for the chiefs to join him at Fort 
Harrison. He despatched some of them on a 
mission to the prophet, to induce him to lay 
aside his hostile designs. This mission was 
unavailing. The Delawares on their return, 
reported that they had been ill received, ill 
treated, insulted, and finally dismissed with 
the most contemptuous remarks upon them- 
selves and the governor. 

The army commenced its advance from 
Fort Harrison, on the 28th of October, and 
the whole march was conducted with great 



94 

caution. The troops were encamped every 
night, in order of battle, and they marched 
always in two lines, on each side the trail 
which served as a road, in such order that 
by a single movement they could be formed 
into two lines, or thrown into a hollow square, 
as circumstances might require. The dra- 
goons and mounted riflemen covered the front, 
flanks, and rear, and exchanged positions 
with each other as the ground varied, so as 
to ensure to each that which was most favor- 
able. 

At some distance above Fort Harrison, two 
routs presented themselves ; one, which was 
the shorter, along the south bank of the Wa- 
bash, but which passed through a woody and 
uneven country ; while the other, on the op- 
posite bank of the river, led, for the most part, 
through level and open prairies. To deceive 
the enemy, the governor, advanced upon the 
south side of the river, for some miles, when 
suddenly he changed his direction, crossed 
the stream, and pursued the northern road. 
By this mancEuvrethe Indians were completely 
deceived, and the troops advanced for sev- 
eral days without seeing any traces of the 
enemy. 



95 



For the purpose of keeping himself inform- 
ed of the movements and proceedings of the 
prophet, the governor employed a number of 
Indian scouts. Hearing nothing from these 
scouts, and seeing nothing of the enemy, the 
governor became alarmed, lest the prophet 
might have passed the flanks of the army and 
advanced toward the settlements. This was 
a manoeuvre perfectly practicable. Vincennes 
was but an outpost ; and the settlements ex- 
tending from it towards the falls of the Ohio, 
formed a narrow line of little strength, and 
difficult to be defended. Besides, a large 
proportion of the able bodied men were pres- 
ent with the army. Impressed with this dan- 
ger, and desirous at all events to save the set- 
tlements from the miseries of Indian devasta- 
tion, the governor diminished his small force 
by despatching Major Jordan, an officer in 
whom he had great confidence, to Vincennes, 
with forty picked men from among the mount- 
ed riflemen, and with minute directions for 
the defence and protection of that place, and 
the neigboring settlements, 
i At the mouth of the Virmillion river, the 
trail quitted the banks of the Wabash ; and 



96 



3,bIock house was here erected for the protec- 
tion of the boats whicli thus far had trans- 
ported the provisions and baggage of the 
troops. On the 4th of November, after 
marching for a long distance, through open 
prairies, they approached towards^^ine creek, 
a stream, with rocky, steep and woody 
banks, presenting but few places where it 
can be crossed. The Indian trail, on which 
they were marcliing, crossed the river by an 
extremely difficult defile, which twice before, 
in their wars with the whites, had been select- 
ed by the Indians as a place of attack. To 
avoid this dangerous passage, the governor, 
encamped on the creek; and having caused a 
search to be made during the night, another 
and much more practicable crossing place 
was discovered some miles further up, by 
which the troops crossed the next morning. 

On the 5tii, the troops encamped within 
nine or ten miles of the Prophet's town. The 
march was recommenced the next day ; and 
after advancing three or four miles, several 
parties of Indians began to^show themselves. 
The interpreters were now placed with the 
advanced guard, and attempts were made to 



97 

open a communication with the Indians; but 
they would return no answer, or only replied 
by insulting gestures. Within about three 
miles of the town, the ground became broken, 
difficult and woody. The path descended a 
steep hill and crossed a creek, passing 
through thick woods, intersected by deep 
ravines. This was a very favorable point 
for an attack ; and the greatest precaution as 
well as haste were used in manoeuvering the 
army through this difficult pass. All this time 
the Indians appeared in considerable numbers 
on the front and flanks, but all attempts at open- 
ing a communication with them were unavail- 
ing ; and when an officer was sent forward 
with a flag, he was obliged to return on account 
of the attempts of a numerous party of In- 
dians to cut him off from the army. Howev- 
er, as they approached the town, three In- 
dians, one a principal counsellor of the 
prophet, came forward and inquired why 
the army was advancing upon them, at the 
same time, declaring the wish of the prophet 
to avoid hostilities, and averring that he had 
sent a pacific message by certain Indian 
chiefs, who unfoitunately had taken the wrong 



98 

path, and had proceeded down the south side 
of the Wabash. 

Having heard these declarations, the gov- 
ernor consented to a suspension of hostilities, 
and a meeting was appointed for the next day 
to agree on terms of peace. The proper offi- 
cers were then despatched, to seek a conve- 
nient place for encampment, who soon reported 
that they had found near a ^stream, an eleva- 
ted spot, surrounded on three sides by an 
open prairie, with wood and water convenient. 
Here the army encamped for the night, about 
three quarters of a mile from the prophet's 
town. Every precaution was taken against 
an attack. The troops were posted in a hol- 
low square, and slept upon their arms, with 
orders to each corps, if attacked during the 
night, to maintain its position at all hazards 
till relieved. The dragoons, who occupied 
the centre, were kept as a reserve, and were 
directed in case of attack, to parade dismount- 
ed, and wait for orders. After reconnoitering 
the whole ground, the governor called the 
officers together, and gave particular direc- 
tions to each how to draw up and dispose of 
his men, in case of attack, and what meas- 



99 



ures to take under all the circumstances 
which were likely to occur. After receiving 
these orders the officers retired to rest, much 
dissatisfied at the prospect of returning home 
without a battle. 

Indeed, there was not a single individual in 
the camp, who believed that an attack would 
be made that night. The governor and 
those officers who were best acquainted with 
the Indian mode of fio-htincr were the least 
apprehensive on this point. They did not 
believe that the Indians would dare to attack 
by night, an army so favorably posted ; for in 
the dark they lose the peculiar advantage 
they possess in the day time, from the accu- 
racy of their rifles, and their dexterity 
in covering themselves with trees, logs, 
and bushes. The muskets, buck-shot, and 
bayonets of a body of firm and disciplined 
troops, must in anight attack, always prevail 
over the rifles of the Indians. The governor 
indeed expected, that sooner or later, the 
prophet would attack him by treachery or 
ambuscade ; but he supposed that some op- 
portunity would be selected more promising 
of success. Whatever opinions were enter- 



100 



tained as to the likelihood of an attack, every 
possible precaution was taken to be prepared 
against it. The camp was surrounded by a 
chain of sentinels, posted at such a distance 
as to give notice of the approach of the ene- 
my in time for the troops to take their position, 
yet not so distant as to prevent their retreat, 
if overpowered by numbers. In civilized 
warfare, picquets or detaclied guards, are fre- 
quently posted at a considerable distance from 
the camp, and on the roads leading to it. 
Against Indians such guards are useless, for 
they do not require a road on which to move, 
and these detached parties would always be 
cut off by their superior adroitness. 

In conformity to a general order, the troops 
went to rest with their clothes and accoutre- 
ments on, their muskets loaded by their sides, 
and their bayonets fixed. The officers were 
ordered to sleep in the same manner ; and it 
was the governor's constant practice to be 
completely ready to mount his horse at a mo- 
ment's warning. The night passed without any 
disturbance, and, the governor and his aids 
rose about a quarter of four, and were sitting in 
conversation about the fire. The moon had 



101 

risen, but afforded little light, in consequence 
of floating clouds, from which occasionally fell 
a small drizzling rain. In a few minutes the 
signal would have been given for the troops 
to turn out, when the Indian rifles were 
heard, and the attack commenced. The In- 
dian warriors had crept up close to the sen- 
tries, with the design to rush forward and 
despatch them before they could fire. One 
of them however discovered an Indian creep- 
ing towards him through the grass, and 
fired. This was immediately followed by 
the Indian yell, and a desperate charge up- 
on the rear angle of the left flank ; the firing 
at once became very severe ; but as soon as the 
men could be formed and posted, they returned 
it with spirit, and maintained their ground with 
desperate valor. All the camp fires were im- 
mediately extinguished, their light being more 
useful to the Indians than to our men. 

The governor immediately mounted his 
horse and proceeded to the point of attack, 
which he strengthened by two companies 
drawn from the centre of the rear line. A 
heavy fire now commenced all along the 
left flank, upon the whole of the front and 
8* 



102 

right flank, and upon a part of the rear line. 
The Indians advanced and retreated by a 
rattling noise made with deer's hoofs. They 
fought with enthusiasm, and seemed deter- 
mined upon victory. Tiie governor employ- 
ed himself in encouraging and supporting the 
men at those points where they were hardest 
pressed ; and he ordered several changes of 
position on the part of particular corps, such 
as the circumstances of the contest seemed 
to require, in all of which the men were con- 
ducted and formed by himself. As daylight 
appeared, the left flank, which was the most 
accessible part of the encampment, 'was 
strengthened by troops drawn from the front 
and rear line. The dragoons were now 
mounted, and, covered by them, a successful 
charge was made upon the enemy, by the 
troops on the left flank. The Indians were 
driven into a swamp, through which the cav- 
alry could not penetrate. At the same time a 
charge was made on the right flank, and the 
Indians in that quarter put to flight ; after 
which they disappeared from the field and 
the battle ended. 

The prophet, it was said, took no active 



103 



part in the fight, but remained secure on a 
neighboring eminence, singing a war song. 
He had promised his followers that the Great 
Spirit would charm the bullets of the Ameri- 
cans, so that they would drop harmless; and 
that the Indians should have light, while their 
opponents were involved in thick darkness. 
Being told that his men were falling he 
bade them fight on, and they would soon see 
the fulfilment of his prophecies. Tecumthe 
was not present at this engagement, being 
on a visit to the southern Indians, whom he 
hoped to engage in his confederacy against 
the United States. 

Governor Plarrison's forces consisted of 
about 800 men. The killed amounted to 
sixty-one, and the wounded were about 
double that number, Arnonor the killed were 
two or three distinguished citizens of Ken- 
tucky, who had volunteered for the expedi- 
tion. The governor himself had a narrow 
escape, the hair of his head being cut by a 
rifle ball. The Indians, whose force was 
supposed to be about 800 or a thousand, left 
thirty-eight warriors dead upon the field, and 
buried many in the town, who were removed 



104 

during the battle. Their loss was at least as 
great as that of the Americans — a very unusual 
or rather unprecedented thing. It is the custom 
of the Indians, always to avoid a close action, 
and from their dexterity in hiding themselves, 
but few can be killed in any battle. At St. 
Clair's defeat, it is believed that not ten In- 
dians were killed, and at Braddock's, still 
fewer. Even in the decisive victory gained 
by Gen. Wayne, but very few of the Indians 
fell. At Tippecanoe, they displayed a pecu- 
liar boldness — a conduct attributed to the con- 
fidence with which the prophet had inspired 
them, and to the distinguished bravery of the 
Winebago warriors. 

The battle of Tippecanoe, gave rise to an 
infinite deal of discussion, in the West, and 
throughout the whole country. The conduct 
of the governor, in consenting to a cessation 
of hostilities, in the selection of a camp, and 
in the conduct of the battle, were criticised 
and canvassed in every form. Some from a 
desire to show their superior sagacity, after 
the affair was ended ; others instigated by a 
hostility to the administration under whose or- 
ders Governor Harrison had acted; and others 



105 

who had lost friends in the action, and whose 
judgment was perverted by their private grief, 
blamed this, that, and the other point of the 
governor's conduct ; and Colonel Boyd, the 
commander of the regiment of regular troops, 
made an attempt to carry off all the honor of 
the victory — an attempt however, in which he 
was resisted by the whole body of his own 
officers. 

Afier all these discussions, the public mind 
settled down into the opinion that the govern- 
or had acted with the greatest energy, pru- 
dence, and sagacity ; and that to his coolness 
and courage, the defeat of the Indians was to 
be ascribed. The Legislature of Indiana ap- 
proved his conduct in the highest terms; and 
the Legislature of Kentucky, having voted to 
go into mourning for the citizens of that State 
slain in the battle, on the motion of John J. 
Crittenden, now a distincruished member of 
the Senate of the United States, resolved, 
" That in the late campaign against the In- 
dians on the Wabash, Governor W. H. Har- 
rison, has, in the opinion of this Legislature, 
behaved like a hero, a patriot, and a general • 
and that, for his cool, deliberate, skilful and 



106 

gallant conduct in the late battle of Tippeca- 
noe, he well deserves the warmest thanks of 
the nation." 

The battle was thus spoken of in Presi- 
dent Madison's message, communicating the 
official account of it to Congress. ** While it 
is deeply to be lamented that so many valua- 
ble lives have been lost in the action, Con- 
gress will see with satisfaction, the dauntless 
spirit and fortitude, victoriously displayed by 
every description of troops engaged, as well as 
the collected firmness which distinguished 
their commander on an occasion requiring 
the utmost exertion of valor and discipline." 

To these official attestations, let us here 
add the testimony of a private soldier of the 
4th Regiment. It is taken from a work pub- 
lished in 1816, in Keene, New Hampshire, 
entitled, "A Journal of two Campaigns of the 
4th Regiment of United States Infantry, by 
Adam Walker, a private in the 4th Regi- 
ment." Mr. Walker was a person with whom 
Governor Harrison, had no acquaintance, 
and he may be supposed to express the opin- 
ion of the common soldiers employed in that 
expedition. On page 31, speaking of the bat- 



107 

tie of Tippecanoe, he says, '* General Harrison 
received a shot through the rim of his hat. 
In the heat of the action his voice was fre- 
quently heard and easily distinguished, giving 
his orders in the same calm, cool, and col- 
lected manner, with which we had been used 
to receive them on drill or parade. The 
confidence of the troops in the General, was 
unlimited." 

Again, speaking of a small portion of the 
militia who had become dissatisfied, at being 
detained from home longer than they expect- 
ed, this writer observes, *' He, (i. e. General 
Harrison,) appeared not disposed to de- 
tain any man against his inclination, being 
endowed by nature with a heart as humane 
as brave ; in his frequent addresses to the 
militia, his eloquence was formed to persuade; 
appeals were made to reason as well as feel- 
ing, and never were made in vain." 

The whole of the tlay of the battle, was 
spent in taking care of the wounded, burying 
the dead, and fortifying the camp. The next 
day the dragoons and mounted riflemen were 
sent to reconnoiter the town. They found it 
fortified with much care and labor, but totally 



108 



deserted. A great quantity of corn was left 
behind, all the household utensils, and even a 
few guns and some ammunition. The town 
had evidently been abandoned in great haste. 
Some dead were found in it, and quite a num- 
ber partially buried in the gullies adjacent. 
Every thing that could be useful to the army 
was removed, and the town was then burned. 

On the morning of the 7th, the troops were 
put in motion on their return. It required 
every wagon to transport the wounded. The 
governor called the officers together, explained 
to them the necessity of destroying the bag- 
gage, and set the example by ordering his own 
camp furniture to be broken and burned. The 
army arrived without interruption at the block 
house on the Wabash, where the wounded were 
embarked in boats, and the rest of the troops 
continued on by land to Vincennes. 

In December following, deputies from vari- 
ous tribes arrived at Vincennes to endeavor to 
accommodate matters; and in March there 
came another delegation from all the late hos- 
tile tribes except the Shawnese. It was rep- 
resented that since the battle of Tippecanoe, 
the prophet had been a wanderer, attended by 



1C9 

only a few followers, and that his influence 
was very much diminished. Every thing 
promised fair for a settlement of difficulties ; 
but several circumstances conspired to pre- 
vent it. The first was, the return of Tecum- 
the from the south, who again took the lead, 
and stirred up the Indians to resistance. A 
second obstacle in the way of a satisfactory ar- 
rangement was the withdrawal of the regular 
troops which had been stationed at Vincen- 
nes, and whose presence had served as a 
check to the hostile tribes. But what had the 
greatest influence of all, and tended wholly to 
neutralize the advantages which might other- 
wise have been derived from the victory of 
Tippecanoe, was the commencement of the 
war with Great Britain, by which means the 
Indians were encouraged and enabled to re- 
new hostilities ; and Tecumthe found an ally 
able and eager to second all his plans. 



110 



CHAPTER V. 

War with Gfreat Britain — Circumstances- which led tVy 
the appointment of Harrison to the command of the 
Northwestern army— Extent of his authority — Difficul- 
ties to be encountered — Harrison's influence with th« 
Militia — Anecdotes — Plan of the Campaig-n — Obsta- 
cles in the way — Harrison recommends the construction 
of a flat on Lake Erie — Battle of the river Kaisin — 
End of the Campaign-^Cxpedition against the Indians. 

Immediately after the declaration of war 
against Great Britain, Governor Harrison de- 
termined to put the territory in the best pos- 
ture of defence, which circumstances admit-* 
ted ; and he left Vincennes for the easterfi 
part of the territory, for th« purpose of re- 
viewing and disciplining the militia. During 
this absence from the seat of government, he 
\isited Cincinnati, where his family then was; 
and while there he received a letter from Gov- 
»ernor Scott, of Kentucky, urging him to come 
to Frankfort, in order to consult and advise 
respecting the disposition of the Kentucky 
volunteers, assembled for the protection of the 
Northwestern frontier. He went accordingly;, 
and was received at Frankfort with military 



Ill 



honors, and the greatest enthusiasm on the 
part of the people. Soon after his arrival 
orders were received from the war department 
placing a portion of the Kentucky quota un- 
der his command for the protection of the 
territory of which he was governor. The re- 
mainder were ordered to concentrate at 
Georgetown, for the purpose of marching from 
that place to reinforce General Hull, who was 
already getting into difficulty, and calling 
urgently for more troops. 

While the governor was employed in get- 
ting ready the Kentucky troops which were to 
march to Vincennes, letters were received 
from Detroit, from several principal officers in 
the army, written a few days previous to the 
attack upon that place by the British, slating 
their entire want of confidence in their com- 
mander, and their apprehension of some fatal 
disaster from his miserable arrangements, and 
apparent imbecility and cowardice. These 
letters also declared it to be the common wish 
of the army that Governor Harrison should ac- 
company the expected reinforcements. 

Governor Harrison was very popular in 
J^entucky, and the wish thus expressed by the 



112 

officers of Hull's army, was warmly concurred 
in by' the Kentucky volunteers. But the 
authority he had received from the president 
did not entitle him to command any troops 
not intended to operate in the territories of 
Indiana and Illinois. 

The feeling however in favor of his appoint- 
ment to the command was very strong ; and 
there were many inducements which weiorhed 
powerfully with Governor Scott to confer it 
upon him. However, there were difficulties 
in the way, from the fact that he was not a 
citizen of Kentucky, and from other circum- 
stances connected with the organization of 
the troops. In this dilemma Governor Scott 
called together a caucus of influential persons, 
composed of Shelby, the governor elect, Henry 
Clay, speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives in Congress, Thomas Todd, judge of the 
Federal Circuit Court, and some others. These 
persons, after consultation, unanimously re- 
solved to advise the governor to give Har- 
rison a brevet commission of major gene- 
ral in the Kentucky militia, and author- 
ise him to take command of the detachment 
marching to Detroit. This was accordingly 



113 

done ; and the appointment was hailed with 
approbation by the citizens generally, and 
.especially by the volunteers, who had already 
arrived at Cincinnati on their march to the 
north. The news of Hull's surrender, which 
was received just at this time, caused the ap- 
pointment of Harrison to be regarded with 
feelings of still warmer approbation. 

General Harrison accepted the appointment, 
and entered upon the duties of it with great 
zeal and spirit. But his operations were pre- 
sently interrupted by the receipt of letters 
from the war department written in ignorance 
both of the surrender of Hull and of what had 
l>oen done in Kentucky, appointing General 
Winchester to take command of the troops 
marchinof to Detroit. At the same time 
Harrison received an appointment of briga- 
dier-general in the service of the United 
States, which appointment, however, he de- 
clined to accept, being desirous that the war 
department should be first informed of the ar- 
rangements by which he had been appointed 
to the command of the Kentucky troops. In 
the meantime these troops had marched to 
the Northwestern frontier of Ohio, and Gen. 
9* 



114 

Harrison having first succeeded in relieving 
Fort Wayne, which had been besieged by 
the Indians, and in destroying the Indian 
towns on the Wabash, resigned the command 

* CD 

to General Winchester, who had arrived at 
the camp. 

Winchester had been an officer in the rev- 
olutionary array, and was now advanced in 
life. He was a wealthy citizen of Tennessee, 
where he had lived many years in a style of 
elegant luxury and ease, little calculated to 
season him for a northern campaign in the 
woods. His arrival produced great uneasiness 
among the troops. They had confidently ex- 
pected that General Harrison would be con- 
firmed in the command ; and by this time his 
affable and courteous address, and his indefat- 
igable attention to the duties of his station, 
had secured the confidence of every soldier in 
the army. The volunteers especially were 
very loud in their expressions of dissatisfaction 
at the change of command ; and General Har- 
rison had to exert his utmost influence to re- 
concile the armv to it. At last the men con- 
sented to march under Winchester, with a 
confident belief, however, that as soon as the 



115 

case was understood by the war department, 
General Harrison would be reinstated in com- 
mand. 

Tliis expectntion of the soldiers was soon 
realized , for in a few days General Harrison 
received a despatch informing him that he had 
been appointed by the president to the com- 
mand of the Northwestern army, with orders 
to protect the western frontier, retake Detroit, 
destroy the British establishments at Maiden, 
and to penetrate as far as possible into Can- 
ada. In a letter to Governor Shelby, of Ken- 
tucky, from the Secretary of War, of simulta- 
neous date, it was stated, that to meet existing 
contingencies, " it had been determined to vest 
the command of all the forces on the western 
and northwestern frontiers in an officer whose 
military character and knowledge of the coun- 
try appeared to be combined with the public 
confidence." " General Harrison," adds the 
letter, " has accordingly been appointed to the 
chief command, with authority to employ 
officers, and to draw from the public stores, 
and every other practicable source, all the 
means of effectuating the object of his com- 
mand." 



116 

The authority thus bestowed upon General 
Harrison was more extensive and important 
than was ever entrusted to any other officer 
in the military service of the United States, 
Washington and Greene alone excepted. He 
was to provide for the safety of the whole 
Northwestern frontier, from the confines of 
Pennsylvania and Ohio, to the territory of 
Missouri ; and in addition he was to carry on 
offensive operations against the enemy for 
the recovery of the posts and territory which 
Hull had surrendered into their hands, and for 
the conquest of Maiden, their principal depot 
and head-quarters in Upper Canada. 

Every circumstance almost conspired to 
surround this command with the most formi- 
dable difficulties. The troops with which the 
operations were to be carried on consisted 
almost entirely of volunteers and militia from 
Kentucky and the other western States. These 
men were altogether unused to military ser- 
vice of any kind, without the slightest tincture 
of discipline, and wholly indisposed by all 
their feelings and habits, to that implicit obe^ 
dience so necessary in an army. The enthu^ 
.^iasm which led them to volunteer quickly 



117 

evaporated amid the extreme hardships and 
privations to which they were exposed ; they 
were always more ready to give advice than to 
obey orders ; and with the exception of their 
coara(Te, which was undeniable, and that per- 
sonal hardil-iood without which they never 
couh] have endured the bardship-s of that ser- 
vice, they possessed but few military qualities, 
and furnished very intractable materials for 
the formation of an army. The officers were 
as ignorant of discipline as the men ; and 
were wholly unacquainted with the principles 
of military science. In the most delicate and 
important parts of the service they were able 
to afford the commander-in-chief hardly any 
assistance ; and indeed often placed him in 
the most embarrassing situations. What ag- 
gravated all these difficulties was the extreme 
deficiency and confusion of those departments 
of the service, whose business it was to furnish 
supplies of clothing and provisions. There 
was a great deficiency even of arms and mili- 
tary stores. Almost every thing for the sup- 
ply of the army, provisions excepted, had to 
be transported from the Atlantic states ; and 
owino" to the limited means of transportation 



118 

which existed in those days, and the constant 
failure of contractors to fulfil what they had 
undertaken, there was almost always a de- 
ficiency, which often became alarmino-. 

The posts which Harrison was ordered to 
recover were separated from the frontier set- 
tlements by a swampy forest two hundred 
miles in extent, without roads or inhabitants, 
and in many places totally impassable by 
wagons. 

The enemy he had to encounter consisted 
of trained and disciplined British troops, well 
supplied with every thing necessary, and aided 
by a large body of Indians, who were sup- 
ported by British rations, and commanded by 
a chief of the greatest sagacity, energy and 
courage. The enemy also had the double 
advantage of being concentrated within a small 
compass, and of commanding Lake Erie by 
means of a fleet; while the vast extent of the 
Amerian frontier presented them a great num- 
ber of points of attack, any of which they 
could select at pleasure, and by this harassing 
warfare, distract the attention and delay the 
advance of the American force. 
To any one who will take into consider^- 



119 

tion all these circumstances, it will be suffi- 
ciently obvious that the command to which 
General Harrison was appointed demanded 
energy, perseverance, and indefatigable activ- 
ity ; and that no man could succeed in it who 
did not join to military talents of a high order, 
a knowledge of men and things, and a fertility 
of resource, far beyond what ordinarily suffi- 
ces for a military commander. He had an 
army to discipline, and in fact to create; this 
same army he was obliged to clothe and feed ; 
and to this was joined the still more difficult 
task of keeping it obedient and contented in 
the midst of hardships and suffi^rings of r>o 
ordinary character ; all this he had to perform 
besides protecting the frontier, fighting the 
enemy, and the ordinary duties of a command- 
ing general- 

The authority conferred upon him was co- 
extensive with the difficulties of his command. 
He was authorised to make appointments in 
all the various departments of the army, and 
the officers whom he thus selected were eon- 
firmed by the president. He was at liberty to 
draw on the government for money to any 
amount, and to niake any contracts which he 



120 

might deem expedient for the supply of his 
troops. These extraordinary powers he ex- 
ercised with energy, but at the same time with 
moderation and prudence ; nor did he ever 
transcend the respect which he owed to the 
laws, or abuse in any way the high trust thus 
confided to him. 

This appointment, it deserves to be remark- 
ed, was obtained by General Harrison by 
means of no party or personal influence. It 
was bestowed upon him, in compliance with 
the almost unanimous wishes of the western 
people, and by a president, who as Secretary 
of State under Jefferson, had kept up a con- 
stant correspondence with him in relation to 
the territorial afl'airs of Indiana, and who had 
thus enjoyed an ample opportunity of estimat- 
ing his capacity and character. 

The first grand object to be accomplished by 
General Harrison was, to maintain that influ- 
ence over the troops to which he owed his ap- 
pointment. His good sense, as well as his ex- 
perience, taught him that militia — freemen 
serving voluntarily out a spirit of patriotism — 
did not expect, nor deserve, nor would they sub- 
mit to the same kind of treatment which is 



121 



practiced towards mercenary troops. These 
volunteers consisted in general of the most 
high-spirited young men from among a free 
population ; they had talent, intelligence, and 
feelings of the most sensitive kind ; and their 
leaders were the popular men of the district 
to which they belonged. It would have shown 
a bad heart, as well as a poor knowledge of hu- 
man nature, to have assumed towards such 
soldiers an arrogant bearing, and to have at- 
tempted to compel their obedience by severity 
and rigor. General Harrison proceeded in a 
different method. He observed a strict milita- 
ry etiquette, and required a prompt and exact 
attention to his orders, from those under his 
command, but at the same time he always 
treated his men with respect, considering 
every soldier as a patriot who was making 
sacrifices for his country. It was his practice 
to win obedience by kindness, and to enforce 
the performance of duty by appeals to the 
reason and the feelings. Durinsf the whole 
of his command he never sufTered a degrading 
punishment to be inflicted upon a militia sol- 
dier. He had no occasion to shoot deserters, 
or to flog the negligent. Like a father among 
10 






his children he often gave affectionate admo- 
nitions in private, which precluded the neces- 
sity of a public exposure. When the mis- 
conduct or discontent was not confined merely 
to individuals, but pervaded whole corps, he 
availed himself of his remarkable talent for 
extemporaneous speaking, and by a persua- 
sive eloquence which acted at once upon their 
heads and their hearts, he recalled the troops 
to a sense of their duty, and a determination 
to perform it. 

A striking^ instance of the influence he was 
thus able to exert, was exhibited shortly after 
he took command of the army. Having ar- 
rived late at night at the encampment at fort 
Defiance, he was waited upon by the officers 
of one of the Kentucky regiments, who inform- 
ed him that their men, exhausted by the hard- 
ships of the service, and disappointed in the 
expectation of an immediate engagement with 
the enemy, had resolved to return home ; and 
that all the entreaties or arguments of their 
officers could not avail to restrain them. In 
facyt their appeals had been answered only by 
insult, and they called upon the general to in- 
terfere at once, as the only officer likely to 
bring back the mutineers to their duty. 



123 

The general declined to do any thing that 
nisfht, but ffave orders that the next morning 
the drums should beat the alarm instead of 
the reveille. This brought all the troops to 
their arms; and in conformity to a previous 
order they were formed in a hollow square. 
General Harrison now appeared on parade, 
much to the surprise of the troops, who were 
ignorant of his arrival. He proceeded to 
harangue them on the subject of the cam- 
paign, and presently alluded to the difficulties 
which existed in one of the Kentucky regi- 
ments. It was fortunate, he said, that he had 
found out this dissatisfaction thus early in the 
campaign. It was now easy, without any in- 
jury to the service, to dismiss those who were 
discontented because, while making war in 
the woods, they could not enjoy all the luxu- 
ries of peace and home. They were at liber- 
ty to return, — he only pitied them for the re- 
ception they would be likely to meet with 
when they arrived in Kentucky! — The influ- 
ence of this address was powerful and instan- 
taneous. Scott, the senior Kentucky colonel, 
called out to his troops to show their attach- 
ment to the service and their general by giv- 



124 

ing him three clieers. To this appeal the 
regiment instantly responded, as did the regi- 
ment of Colonel Lewis to a similar call from 
him. Allen, the commander of the discon- 
tented regiment^ now demanded of his men 
whether they would be behind the rest of the 
Keniuckians in patriotism and fortitude? 
They replied with the same shout as the rest, 
and from that time the project of returning 
home was heard of no more. 

That the hardships which produced these 
discontents were by no means imaginary, will 
appear from the following account of a night's 
encampment during Harrison's march to De- 
fiance, on the occasion above alluded to. He 
had received information — which proved how- 
ever to be unfounded — that the troops at De- 
fiance were threatened with an attack from a 
combined force of British and Indians; and 
he proceeded in haste from St. Mary's to their 
relief. The troops being on a forced march, 
were not suffered to halt till dark. On the 
night referred to, they encamped on the banks 
of the Au Glaise, in a level beach woods, the 
ground nearly covered with water from the 
rain which fell in torrents all night. They 



125 

had no axes, and could only procure such fuel 
as was furnished by the dry limbs scattered on 
the ground. Those who could find a dry log 
aorainst which to kindle a fire were fortunate 
indeed. Many sat without fire, upon their 
saddles, leaning against the trunks of trees, 
and endeavoring to sleep. Eeing separated 
from the baggage, few had any thing to eat or 
drink. The men became peevish, and were 
not sparing in complaints. To check this bad 
feeling, and give the men an example of cheer- 
fulness, the general, who sat with his staff by 
a small fire, wrapped in his cloak, and receiv- 
ino- the rain as it fell, called on one of his 
officers to sing a humorous Irish song. An- 
other officer sang a song, with the folllowing 
chorus : 

Now 's the time for mirth and glee, 
Sing and laugh and dance with me ! 

The ludicrous contrast of this song with their 
actual situation, put the men into quite a good 
humor. Indeed this chorus afterwards be- 
came proverbial in the army, and was always 
raised upon occasions of the greatest suffering 
and fatigue. 

It was by means like these, that General 
10* 



126 



Harrison always succeeded in controling the 
feelings of his men, and inspiring them with 
a spirit of cheerfulness and obedience ; and it 
is worthy of remark, that although several de- 
tached expeditions within the range of his 
command, were totally defeated by the insub- 
ordination of the men who composed them, 
and their refusal to obey orders, nothing of 
the kind ever occurred when he was present. 

It was late in September before General 
Harrison received his appointment. The ad- 
ministration were exceedingly desirous that 
he should accomplish the chief objects of it, 
viz : the recapture of Detroit, the conquest of 
Maiden, and the expulsion of the British force 
from Upper Canada, — during that campaign ; 
and the greatest efforts were made for that 
purpose. 

The army placed under his command con- 
sisted nominally of ten thousand men ; bu*^ 
the effective force never exceeded six thou- 
sand. It was composed of the Kentucky 
regiments already in the field, a body of Ohio 
militia also already under arms, and two brig- 
ades of volunteers, which were to be marched, 
one from Virginia, and the other from Penn- 



127 

sylvania. A train of artillery was to be sup- 
plied from Pittsburg. 

The plan of the campaign formed by General 
Harrison was as follows. He stationed the 
left wing of the army, the command of which 
had been entrusted to General Winchester,* 
and which consisted principally of the Ken- 
tucky troops, at Defiance. The right wing, 
which was to be composed of the Virginia and 
Pennsylvania brigades, of which Harrison 
himself assumed the immediate command, was 
to concentrate at Upper Sandusky. The 
centre corps consisted of Ohio troops, com- 
manded by General Tupper, and was station- 
ed at fort Mc Arthur. At these several points 
supplies of provisions and stores were to be 
accumulated ; and from these points the army 
was to move to the rapids of the Maumee, 
where all the corps were to be united, and 
whence they were to move forward for ulterior 
operations against the British and Indian 
enemy. 

* When Harrison was appointed to the command of the 
Northwestern army, Winchester had his choice to remain 
with that arm}', or to join the forces on the Niagara fron- 
tier. He chose to remain. 



128 



Havinof made all the arranfjements in his 
power along the front of his position, the gen- 
eral now hastened into the rear to push for- 
ward the supplies essential to the campaign. 
The Kentucky troops, with characteristic 
thoughtlessness, had left home in summer 
dresses; few of them had any blankets; and 
all were unprovided with the clothing neces- 
sary for a winter campaign. To supply this 
deficiency was not easy. The articles needed 
were not to be purchased without the greatest 
difficulty; and the general found himself un- 
der the necessity of appealing to the patriot- 
ism of the Kentuckians to contribute and for- 
ward these necessary supplies. The appeal 
was not made in vain. But it was very late 
before the soldiers benefited by it. 

It soon became obvious that if the recovery 
of Detroit was to be accomplished during that 
campaign, it could only be by continuing 
operations through the winter, and taking ad- 
vantage of the frozen ground to forward sup- 
plies, and of the frozen surface of the lake to 
cross over and attack Maiden. Indeed the 
difficulties by which the expedition was sur- 
rounded seemed to increase every day. The 



]29 

three points above mentioned, upon which the 
suppHesofthe army were to be accumulated, 
viz. Defiance, fort Mc Arthur, and Upper 
Sandusky, were considerably advanced be- 
yond the line of settlements, and the roads by 
which they were approached were in a most 
terrible condition, which was aggravated by 
the excessive rains of the season. The de- 
struction of pack-horses, and the waste and 
loss which occurred in the transportation of 
stores, were enormous, and though vast sums 
were spent, but little was accomplished. But 
to get forward the stores to these points, was 
in fact only the commencement of difficulties. 
Those at Defiance might indeed be transport- 
ed to the rapids of the Maumee by a water 
communication down the river; but those ac- 
cumulated at the other two depots, were to be 
carried across the Mack sivamp, an almost im- 
passable barrier which stretched along paral- 
lel to the Maumee from the Au Glaise to lake 
Erie. This terrible swamp, it seemed almost 
impossible to cross, except when it was harden- 
ed by the frosts of winter. 

It soon occurred to General Harrison, that 
the best and most economical way to accom- 



130 

plish the objects of the campaign was, to build 
a fleet on lake Erie, and having obtained the 
command of the lake, to be able to move the 
army and its stores by water. The necessity 
of thus getting the command of the lake, he 
early suggested in his correspondence with 
the war department. " Admitting," he wrote, 
" that Maiden and Detroit are both taken, 
Macinaw and St. Joseph's will both remain 
in the hands of the enemy, until we can create 
a force capable of contending with the vessels 
which the British have on lake Erie, and 
which they will be able to maintain, so long 
as the canoe route by Grand River and lake 
Nipissin shall remain to them, and for six 
months longer." Again, urging the economy 
of this mode of operation, he says in the same 
letter, " I should not hesitate to say, that if a 
small proportion of the sums which will be ex- 
pended in the quartermaster's department, in 
the active prosecution of the campaign during 
the winter, was devoted to obtaining the com- 
mand of lake Erie, the wishes of the govern- 
ment, to their utmost extent, could be accom- 
plished without difficulty, in the months of 
April and May. Maiden, Detroit and Mac- 



131 



inaw would fall in rapid succession." In a 
subsequent letter he still urges this same idea. 
" Should our offensive operations be suspend- 
ed until spring, it is my decided opinion that 
the most effectual and cheapest plan will be, 
to obtain command of lake Erie. This being 
once effected, every difficulty will be remov- 
ed. An army of four thousand men, landed 
on the north side of the lake below Maiden, 
will soon reduce that place, retake Detroit, 
and with the aid of the fleet proceed down 
the lake to co-operate with the army from 
Niagara." 

Soon after he writes again as follows. " I 
have no means of estimating correctly the cost 
of a naval armament, capable of effecting this 
object, but from my knowledge of the cost of 
transporting supplies through a swampy wild- 
erness, I do believe that the expense which 
will be incurred in six weeks in the spring, in 
an attempt to transport the provisions for the 
army along the road leading from the Rapids 
to Detroit, would build and equip the vessels 
for this purpose." 

The Virginia brigade, which was to form a 
part of Harrison's army, did not approach the 



132 

scene of action till late in November; and it 
was December before the Pennsylvania troops 
arived at Upper Sandusky. About the same 
time arrived the train of artillery which had 
been promised, but in which the general was 
much disappointed, many of the guns being 
only six pounders, and the carriages of the 
whole extremely defective, an4 hardly fit for 
service. 

Though Harrison was satisfied that the 
command of the lake was essential to the en- 
tire success of the enterprise in which he was 
engaged, yet as the war department seemed 
to consider the recovery of Detroit that winter, 
an object of much importance, he was resolv- 
ed to persevere in the attempt. Detroit he 
felt certain of taking at all events, and if the 
frost should secure him a passage across the 
lake, he expected to be able to gain possession 
of Maiden also. 

Having now collected all the troops of the 
right wing at Sandusky, the artillery having 
arrived, and a large store of provisions being 
accumulated, orders were sent to General 
Winchester to move down from Defiance to 
the Rapids, to which point it was designed that 



133 



the whole army should shortly march. This 
movement was accomplished by Winchester 
on the 10th of January, 1813; but he took 
no proper means to inform General Harrison 
of it. When he left th© Rapids on the 30th of 
December, he despatched a message with in- 
formation of the fact, which did not reach its 
destination till the 11th of January. Orders 
were immediately issued for sending forward 
a part of the artillery and a quantity of pro- 
visions. On the 16th of January, the general 
learned, not directly from Winchester, but in- 
directly from General Perkins, who command- 
ed a body of troops stationed at Lower San- 
dusky, that Winchester had arrived at the 
Rapids, and that he ivas meditating a move- 
ment against the enemy, for which purpose he 
solicited a battalion from General Perkins. 
This information alarmed Harrison greatly. 
He immediately made every exertion to get 
forward the artillery, stores and provisions, — 
a business, however, which went on very 
slowly, on account of the extreme badness of 
the roads. 

In the meantime Winchester had under- 
taken an enterprise which turned out very 
li 



134 



disastrously, and which destroyed all hopes 
of reducing Detroit or Maiden that winter. 

On the river Raisin, which empties into the 
head of lake Erie, within the boundaries of 
Michigan, was a small French settlement, the 
inhabitants of which sent messengers to Gen- 
eral Winchester at the Rapids, requesting his 
protection against a British and Indian force 
of about four hundred men, from whom, now 
that their neighborhood was likely to become 
the seat of war, they apprehended the destruc- 
tion of their town, its inhabitants being gen- 
erally favorable to the American cause. 
Frenchtown, — for so the settlement was call- 
ed, — ^was thirty miles from the Rapids, while 
it was only eighteen miles from Maiden, the 
head-quarters of the British, from which place 
it was easily accessible over the frozen surface 
of the lake. 

By the advice of a council of officers which 
Winchester called together, he resolved to 
send on a part of his troops to the river Raisin ; 
and on the 1 7th of January, Colonels Lewis 
and Allen marched at the head of about six 
hundred and sixty men. The next day they 
reached Frenchtown, and after a sharp action 



135 

with the forces of the enemy, which had pos- 
session of the place, they drove them out and 
obtained possession of it. Colonel Lewis, 
flushed with this success, resolved to hold the 
town, and he despatched an express to Win- 
chester to inform him of his intention. This 
news raised a great ferment in Winchester's 
camp. It was evident that the situation of 
Lewis was critical, on account of his vicinity 
to Maiden ; but all were eager for holding the 
town, and all were anxious to march for the 
purpose of reinforcing the advanced corps. 
Accordingly, on the evening of the 19th, Win- 
chester himself moved at the head of two 
hundred and fifty men, which was all the dis- 
posable force which the camp supplied, and 
arriving at Frenchtown on the night of the 
20th, he assumed the chief command. 

The troops which Lewis had led were en- 
camped among garden pickets, sufficient to 
afford them some protection against musketry ; 
but the force which arrived under Winchester 
took their station in an open field, without 
any cover. During the whole of the 2 1st, 
notwithstanding the dangerous position of the 
troops, nothing whatever was done towards 



136 



fortifying the camp. The general was in- 
formed by a Frenchman from Maiden that a 
strong force was about marching from that 
place to attack him. He paid no attention to 
this information, but took up his quarters in a 
house nearly a mile from the camp, and on 
the opposite side of the river. He even omitted 
to station any piquet guard on the road lead- 
ing to Maiden. 

Just at day break on the 22d, the British from 
Maiden, who had approached the camp unper- 
ceived, opened a heavy fire upon it from several 
pieces of artillery loaded with grape shot, at a 
distance of three hundred yards. Though 
completely surprised, Lewis's men on the 
right, who were protected by the pickets about 
their encampment, maintained their ground 
with much spirit. But the detachment which 
had arrived under Winchester, on the left, 
being totally without any barrier against the 
enemy, were soon thrown into confusion, and 
fled in disorder across the river, carrying with 
them a strong detachment from the right which 
had been sent to their aid. All attempts to 
rally the fugitives proved vain ; and the Indi- 
ans who had gained their flank and rear, pur- 



137 



sued and tomahawked them without mercy. 
Some few, among whom was General Win- 
chester, were taken prisoners, and carried to 
the British camp. 

In the mean time the men behind the pick- 
ets maintained their position with much firm- 
ness, till at length the commander of the 
British force procured an order from Winches- 
ter, commanding them to surrender. As their 
ammunition was nearly exhausted, and as they 
had no hopes of being reinforced, they thought 
it best to obey. They surrendered, however, 
on express condition of being protected against 
the fury of the Indians. 

The prisoners who were able to march 
were taken off to Maiden ; the wounded were 
left behind in the houses of the village, with 
reiterated promises that the next day sleds 
should be sent, and they should be removed, 
and that in the mean time they need appre- 
hend no danger. The next morning, how- 
ever, instead of the promised sleds, came a 
party of Indians, who murdered all these 
wounded prisoners in cold blood ! 

The defeat and massacre at the river Raisin 
produced an extraordinary sensation through- 
11* 



13S 

out the west, and particularly in Kentucky. 
The volunteers were, many of them, persons 
of note; as it was a long time before the sur- 
viving prisoners were heard from, it was long 
uncertain who had escaped ; and there was 
scarcely a family in the state which had not 
a relative to mourn for. 

Some persons undertook to cast the blame 
of this affair upon General Harrison ; but 
without the slightest foundation. It appears 
from what has been related, that the expedi- 
tion was undertaken totally without his con- 
sent or knowledge. We will now proceed to 
state the steps which he took, so soon as he 
heard of the movement, to reinforce General 
Winchester, and so to prevent the disastrous 
result above recounted. 

The morning after General Harrison^heard 
that Winchester contemplated a movement 
against the enemy, after sending forward the 
artillery and supplies, as above mentioned he 
started for Lower Sandusky, having first des- 
patched an express to the Rapids for informa- 
tion. This was the 17th. Arrived at Lower 
Sandusky, he found that General Perkins had 
prepared a battalion, with a piece of artillery, 



139 



in conformity to Winchester's request, and 
the next day, the 18th, this corps marched un- 
der major Cotgrove, for the Rapids. Harrison 
determined to follow it, and to have a per- 
sonal interview with Winchester, of the 
nature of whose intended movement against 
the enemy he was as yet entirely ignorant. 
Before he started, however, early on the 
morning of the I9th, he received a letter from 
Winchester informing him of the advance of 
Colonel Lewis upon Frenchtown. He there- 
upon crdered all the remaining disposable 
troops at Upper Sandusky to march for the 
Rapids, as soon and as expeditiously as pos- 
sible, and immediately proceeded thither him- 
self. He started in a sleigh with General 
Perkins to overtake the battalion under Cot- 
grove, attended by a single servant. As the 
sleigh went very slowly, from the roughness of 
the road, he took the horse of his servant and 
pushed on alone. Night came upon him in 
the midst of the swamp, which was so imper- 
fectly frozen that the horse sunk to his belly 
at every step. He had no resource but to dis- 
mount and lead his horse, jumping from one 
sod to another. Finally, with the assistance 



140 

of a soldier whom he fortunately met, he suc- 
ceeded in getting his horse through the swamp, 
and in reaching the camp of Cotgrove's bat- 
talion. 

Early on the morning of the 20th, he ar- 
rived at the Rapids, which place General Win- 
chester had left on the preceding evening, 
with all his disposable force. Nothing could 
now be done but to await the arrival of the 
troops from Lower Sandusky. As soon as the 
battalion under Cotgrove arrived, it was hur- 
ried forward to reinforce Winchester ; and 
upon the arrival of the remainder of the troops 
from Upper Sandusky, on the evening of the 
21st, the remainder of the Kentuckians,to the 
number of three hundred, whom Winchester 
had left behind to garrison his camp, were 
ordered to march for Frenchtown, which they 
did the next morning. On the forenoon of the 
22nd, information reached the Rapids of the at- 
tack on Winchester's camp. General Harri- 
son immediately ordered all the remaining 
troops at the Rapids to march with all possible 
expedition, and himself hastened forward to 
overtake the Kentuckians who had marched 
the day before. This detachment was soon 



141 



met by fugitives from the battle, from whom 
the total defeat of Winchester's forces was 
ascertained. A council of general and field 
officers was then held, by whom it was decid- 
ed that it would be imprudent and unnecessa- 
ry to proceed further. Parties of the most 
active and enterprising men were now sent 
forward to assist in bringing in those who 
might escape, and the rest of the reinforce- 
ment returned to the Rapids. 

It thus appears that every thing possible 
was done by General Harrison towards rein- 
forcing Winchester in the dangerous position 
he had assumed at the river Raisin. The 
movement to that place was highly imprudent ; 
but its disastrous result seems to have been 
principally owing to the total negligence of 
Winchester and his officers in taking those 
ordinary precautions which the nature of their 
position demanded. Had the camp been for- 
tified, as it might and ought to have been, the 
result of the battle would have been very dif- 
ferent. At all events the troops might easily 
have held out till the arrival of succor from 
the Rapids. In this disastrous aff"air the 
Americans lost about nine hundred men in 
killed and prisoners. 



142 



The troops at the Rapids, after Winchester's 
defeat, amounted to less than nine hundred 
men. A council of war unanimously recom- 
mended that this corps should fall back to 
Portage river, to cover the convoys which were 
advancing in that direction, and which had in 
charge all the artillery and much of the am- 
munition intended for the campaign. The 
position indeed which Winchester had chosen 
at the Rapids was very objectionable. It was 
on the north bank of the river, and thus sep- 
arated by a wide, swift, and sometimes impas- 
sable stream, from the road by which the con- 
voys were approaching ; and what was still 
worse, the fortifications by which it was de- 
fended were constructed upon an extremely 
injudicious plan. 

Having removed his camp to Portage river, 
General Harrison sent back expresses to 
hasten the advance of the troops, artillery and 
stores. But a violent rain which now com- 
menced, and which continued till the frost 
was entirely out of the ground, greatly retard- 
ed all these operations. On the 30th of Jan- 
uary, however, General Leftwich and the Vir- 
ginia brigade with a part of the artillery which 



143 



had been taken off the carriages and placed 
upon sleds, arrived at Portage river. The 
artillery had been sent off from Upper San- 
dusky on the 17th. It thus took fourteen 
days for only a part of it to reach Portage 
river, a distance of fifty miles. The ammu- 
nition wagons were nearly all left behind, 
their wheels and axletrees being broken, or 
their teams exhausted. The road, for nearly 
the whole distance, was strewed with broken 
wagons, dead or dying horses and oxen, and 
with small groups of militia, who having 
exhausted their strength in wading through 
the mud and water, had stopped and kindled 
fires on the few spots where they would burn. 
By the arrival of General Leftwich, the force 
at Portage river was increased to one thousand 
eight hundred men. But of these a sreat 
many were ill with pleurisies and other dis- 
orders of a similar kind ; which indeed was 
not to be wondered at, for the greater part of 
the encampment was absolutely inundated by 
the rain. The troops indeed bore their situ- 
ation with great patience, to which they were 
induced by the example of their commander. 
The general's tent, placed in the centre, hap- 



144 



pened to be in one the lowest spots of the 
encampment. His officers urged him to 
chfinsre it : but he refused to do so, observinsf 
that it was necessary that every military man 
should be content with the situation, which 
in the course of his duty fell to his lot. 

The following is an account of the hard- 
ships which the soldiers of Leftwich encoun- 
tered on their march to Portage river, extract- 
ed from a letter of one of the Petersburg 
volunteers. " In the best of the road it took 
us over the knees, and often to the middle. 
The rain was incessant. The Black swamp, 
(four miles from Portage river, and four in ex- 
tent,) would have been considered impassable 
by all but men determined to surmount every 
difficulty. In this swamp the water was about 
six inches deep on the ice, which was very 
rotten, often breaking through to the depth of 
four or five feet. 

•* We encamped on wet ground in the midst 
of the rain. It was with difficulty we could 
raise fires. We had no tents, our clothes 
were wet, no axes, nothing to cook with, and 
very little to eat. When we went to sleep, it 
was on two logs laid close together to keep 



145 



our bodies from the wet ground. Good God ! 
what a pliant being is man in adversity. The 
loftiest spirit that ever inhabited the human 
breast would have been tamed amid the diffi- 
culties that surrounded us." 

On the Istof February, the forces at Portage 
river advanced again to the Rapids, — General 
Harrison still entertaining a hope that he 
might yet be able to execute the great objects 
of the campaign the present winter. This 
was the season, in common years, when the 
most intense frosts prevailed in this country, 
by which its lakes and swamps were rendered 
perfectly firm and secure for any kind of con- 
veyance ; yet the weather still continued so 
warm and rainy, that the roads were entirely 
broken up, and travelling on the ice rendered 
altogether unsafe. The troops in the rear, 
and the necessary supplies were unable to 
reach the Rapids. The roads indeed had be- 
come absolutely impassable for any kind of 
carriage, and it was with the greatest difficul- 
ty that they could be traversed in any way. 
Under these circumstances General Harrison 
felt himself constrained to abandon all thoughts 
of advancing against Maiden during the win- 
12 



146 

ter; and he accordingly prepared to go into 
winter quarters at the Rapids. For this pur- 
pose an encampment was chosen on the south 
side of the river, which was strongly fortified, 
and called Camp 3Ieigs, in honor of the patri- 
otic governor of Ohio. 

This determination was indeed rendered 
absolutely necessary by the approaching expi- 
ration of the term of service of the Kentucky 
and Ohio troops. In a short time, only the 
Pennsylvania and Virginia forces remained, 
they having been engaged to serve till spring 

It may be proper to mention here, that 
while eno-affed in the various and arduous ser- 
vices towards the main object of the campaign, 
above briefly recounted. General Harrison 
organised no less than three distinct expedi- 
tions against the Indian towns, rendered ne- 
cessary for the protection of the frontier, and 
to keep the Indians in check. Two of these 
expeditions, one under Colonel Trimble, and 
the other under General Hopkins, failed en- 
tirely, owing to the total insubordination of the 
troops ; the third under Colonel Campbell, of 
the regular army, was more successful. 

About this time General Harrison received 



147 



the appointment of major general in the army 
of the United States. Singular as it may ap- 
pear, though exercising the most important 
conmiand in the power of the Federal govern- 
ment to bestow, he had hitherto acted under 
the Kentucky commission which he received 
when he first took the field. The delay in 
this appointment had created much uneasi- 
ness in the West ; and it being suggested that 
General Harrison might resign at the close of 
the campaign, public meetings were called, 
and addresses sent to the President, request- 
ing him to confer the rank of major general 
upon Harrison, and urging Harrison to accept 
it. This demonstration of public opinion had 
its effect ; and the commission was presently 
fortheomincr. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Second cfimpaign of the Nortliwestein Army — Siege and 
defence of fort Meigs — Second siege of fort Meigs — 
Siege of fort Stevenson — Perry's victory — Embarka- 
tion of the Army — Battle of the Tiames — End of the 
campaign— Harrison resigns his commission. 

In reply to his letters announcing the sus- 
pension of hostile operations, General Harri- 



148 



son received answers from the Secretary of 
War, declaring his conviction of the necessity 
of that course, and stating the intentions of 
the administration with respect to the second 
campaign. 

The plan so often and so strongly urged by 
General Harrison, of obtaining the command 
of lake Erie, had been adopted ; and captain 
Perry had been ordered lo Presque Isle, (now 
Erie) to superintend the construction of a fleet, 
which it was supposed would be ready for ser- 
vice by the middle of May. The land forces des- 
tined to form the Northwestern army, were to 
consist of the 24th regiment of regular troops, 
then on its march from Tennessee, of the 17th 
and 19th regiments, which at that time had 
but ^ew men enlisted, and of three regiments 
of twelve months' volunteers to be raised in 
Ohio and Kentucky. It was announced that 
in the opinion of the Secretary the recruits 
which would be enlisted for the new regfi- 
ments would be able to protect the posts until 
offensive operations should commence. The 
employment of militia was not to be resorted 
to till after it was ascertained that the regular 
troops could not be raised. 



149 

It is evident, from this statement, that 
the administration had passed suddenly from 
the height of profusion to an ill judged parsi- 
moHy. With the merely nominal forces 
above mentioned, the general was required to 
maintain the Northwestern forts with the 
provisions and military stores now accumulat- 
ed in them ; to protect the frontier against 
the Indians ; and to keep the British at Mai- 
den in check. Fortunately, before he had 
received these instructions, he had called for 
reinforcements of militia both from Kentucky 
and Ohio ; and more fortunately yet, notwith- 
standing it was known that the call was dis- 
approved of by the Secretary of War, the 
troops, nevertheless, were furnished. The 
whole number called for, however, was hardly 
sufficient to garrison the forts. * 

As the period for which the remaining 
troops at fort Meigs had enlisted was now 
about expiring, General Harrison felt great 
anxiety for the safety of that place, especially 
as he had heard from Governor Meigs that 
the Secretary of War had disapproved his call 
for militia, though he had not absolutely coun- 
termanded it. To get together, if possible, 
12* 



150 

troops enough to garrison fort Meigs, General 
Harrison hastened into the interior, and ar- 
rived at Cincinnati on the 22d of March. He 
left the command of fort Meiss to General 
Leftvvich, the senior officer of the Virginia 
brigade, having first ascertained that the 
breaches in the ice of lake Erie would prevent 
an attack from fort Maiden during his absence. 
On the 30th, however, he received an express 
informing him that the ice of the lake was so 
far broken up that it would soon become nav- 
igable. Having long expected thai the British 
would attack fort Meigs as soon as the navi- 
gation was open, he returned with all expedi- 
tion to the Rapids, collecting on the way all 
such detachments of troops as he could find, 
and leaving: orders for the rest to follow as 
speedily as possible. He reached fort Meigs 
on the 10th of April, with a small body of 
troops, to the great joy of the garrison, which 
was now exceedingly reduced. General Left- 
wich with his brigade were all gone, — the 
period of their enlistment having expired, — 
and the fort was held by a iew regulars, and a 
small body of Pennsylvanians, who, notwith- 
standing the expiration of their term of enlist- 



151 

ment, had volunteered tc remain until the ex- 
pected reinforcement should arrive. 

Every effort was now made to complete the 
defences of the fort ; and the general looked 
with great anxiety for the arrival of the Ken- 
tucky militia under General Clay, whose 
march, however, was greatly impeded by the 
terrible state of the roads. In a short time, 
the scouts and advanced parties of the enemy 
began to make their appearance ; and on the 
28th of April, the main body of the British 
troops were discovered ascending the river in 
vessels and boats, the Indians approaching at 
the same time by land. 

The assailants immediately commenced the 
erection of batteries on the north side of the 
river, opposite the fort, while their main body 
was encamped at old fort Miami, about a mile 
and a half below. To avoid the effect of 
these batteries a traverse twelve feet high was 
constructed across the camp, the erection of 
which was concealed by the tents, and as soon 
as the batteries began to play, the troops were 
withdiawn behind the traverse, which afforded 
them a complete protection. The batteries, 
however, kept up a very heavy fire, which was 



152 



sparingly returned from the fort, on account 
of the scarcity of shot. The guns of the fort 
were twelve and eighteen pounders. Twelve 
pound shot were plentifully enough supplied 
from the guns of the enemy ; but they fur- 
nished no eighteens, — all their large guns 
being twenty-fours. Finding that little im- 
pression was to be made upon the fort from 
the north side of the river, the enemy estab- 
lished several batteries on the south side. 
But in the mean time, works had been erect- 
ed to guard against this event, and the siege 
went on with no better success than before. 

On the night of the 4th of May a message 
was received bringing the information that 
General Clay, with his forces in boats, was 
just above the Rapids, and would arrive at the 
fort by three or four o'clock in the morning. 
General Harrison immediately resolved upon 
a vigorous effort to raise the siege by a simul- 
taneous attack upon the enemy's works on 
both sides of the river. The attack of the 
batteries on the left was committed to a part 
of General Clay's forces. An officer was des- 
patched to him with orders to land six or eight 
hundred men on the left bank of the river, 



153 



about a mile above the fort, who were to 
march with despatch and secrecy against the 
British batteries, carry them, spike the can- 
non, cut down the carriages, and then hasten 
to their boats and cross over to the fort. 
Preparations in the mean time were made in 
the fort for a sortie against the batteries on 
the right bank. 

Clay detached colonel Dudley with eight 
hundred men for the attack upon the British 
batteries, and descending the river with the 
rest of his forces, though much annoyed by 
the Indians A'om the banks, he reached the 
fort in safety. Meanwhile Dudley's corps 
landed, and rushing unexpectedly upon the 
British batteries, carried them without diffi- 
culty. This achievement was seen from the 
fort, and the entire success of this enterprise 
seemed certain. The enemy in their camp a 
mile and a half below, were indeed seen to 
take the alarm, and to run to arms ; but their 
distance was such that our troops might easily 
have embarked and crossed to the fort without 
any impediment. Presently, however, the 
general saw with feelings of indescribable 
ancruish, — for he was watching the whole pro- 



154 

ceeding through his spy-glass, — that the Brit- 
ish troops were in full march, while not the 
smallest appearance was discernible, on the 
part of our men, of any arrangements either 
to retreat or to fight. In fact they neither 
saw, heard, nor thought of the enemy ; their 
attention being entirely taken up with the 
novelty of their situation, or in skirmishing 
with a few Indians concealed in the bushes. 
An attempt was made by the general to call 
to them across the river, but that proved inef- 
fectual. He then offered a thousand dollars 
to any one who would swim across and ap- 
prise Dudley of his danger. This was under- 
taken, but before it could be accomplished, 
the enemy had arrived. Forty or fifty of the 
Kentuckians were slain, and five hundred and 
fifty taken prisoners. About two hundred 
who were on 'the extreme left escaped to the 
boats, and succeeded in reaching the fort. 
' Never was there a more striking instance of 
an easy victory converted by ignorance and 
thoughtlessness into a lamentable defeat! 

In the mean time, the batteries on the right 
bank were attacked by a detachment from the 
fort, and though defended by a strong body of 



155 



troops, were all carried. Their batteries thus 
rendered useless, and despairing of success, a 
few days after, the enemy raised the siege, and 
retired to Maiden, 

The season had now arrived for active op- 
erations. But the enlistment of the regiments 
which were to constitute the Northwestern 
army was not yet completed. Leaving Gen- 
eral Clay in command at fort Meigs, General 
Harrison hastened into the interior to send 
forward the recruits and hasten the enlist- 
ments. Tlie construction of the fleet at 
Presque Isle had not proceeded with the ra- 
pidity that had been anticipated ; but early 
in July the general received such information 
from commodore Perry as satisfied him of the 
necessity of concentrating his forces, and pre- 
paring for action. On the 25th of the same 
month he received from the war department 
the authority he had earnestly solicited and 
long expected, to call upon the governors of 
Kentucky and Ohio for a militia force; and he 
immediately despatched one of his aids to 
the Governor of Kentucky for that purpose. 

In the mean time the forces of the enemy 
again made their appearance before camp 



156 



Meigs. General Harrison was at Lower San- 
dusky with a small body of regular troops. 
He immediately strengthened the garrison at 
fort Stephenson at that place, to one hundred 
and sixty men, and having entrusted the com- 
mand of it to Major Croghan, with the re- 
mainder of his troops he fell back to Seneca, 
nine miles above,< — a position convenient for 
assembling the forces marching from the in- 
terior, and whence succors might be sent to 
fort Meigs, while it covered the important 
point of Upper Sandusky, where the princi- 
pal magazines of the army were accumulated. 
Word was sent to General Clay, that in 
case the enemy opened batteries against fort 
Meigs, every effort would be made to relieve 
it. But the British and Indians remained be- 
fore that place only a few days. On the SSth 
the British troops were embarked and sailed 
round to Sandusky Bay, while the Indians 
marched through the swamps of Portage river, 
with the intention of attacking Lower San- 
dusky. An examination of the heights around 
fort Stephenson had been made sometime 
previous by General Harrison, Major Croghan, 
and some other officers. It was found to be 



157 



commanded by a hill at no great distance, and 
the officers all agreed that it could not be de- 
fended against heavy artillery. Orders were 
accordingly left with Major Croghan, that if 
British troops with cannon approached the 
place, and he discovered them in time, he 
should abandon the fort and effect a retreat ; 
but against a force merely of Indians, he was 
to maintain his position, as the fort was im- 
pregnable to them, and an attempt to retreat 
in their presence would be ineffectual. 

On the evening of the 29th the general re- 
ceived information that the siege of fort Meigs 
had been raised ; and from the number of 
Indians that infested the woods in the vicinity 
of his camp, he had no doubt that an imme- 
diate attack was intended by the combined 
British and Indians, either upon his own posi« 
tion at Seneca, or on fort Stephenson. . A 
council of war was assembled, which gave a 
unanimous opinion, that as fort Stephenson 
was untenable against heavy artillery, — any 
quantity of which, by means of water trans- 
portation, the enemy might bring against it, — 
and as it was an unimportant post, it had 
better be abandoned, and the garrison with- 
13 



]5S 

drawn. Additional reasons for this advice 
were to be found in the fact of the very 
small force under the general's immediate 
command ; and in the necessity of concen- 
trating all the troops within his reach, for the 
protection of Upper Sandusky, which was a 
point of the utmost importance. Orders were 
accordingly despatched to Major Croghan to 
set fire to the fort, and to repair with his com- 
mand to head-quarters. But these orders did 
not arrive till the fort was already surrounded 
with Indians ; and after consulting with his 
officers, who deemed a retreat unsafe, and 
that the post might be maintained, at least till 
further instructions could be received from 
head-quarters. Major Croghan returned the 
following answer. " Sir, I have just received 
yours of yesterday, 10 o'clock, P. M., order- 
ing me to destroy this place and make good 
my retreat, which was received too late to be 
carried into execution. We have determined 
to maintain this place, and by heavens we 
can." As Major Croghan expected that this 
note w^ould fall into the hands of the enemy, 
he expressed himself in much stronger lan- 
guage than" would otherwise have been con- 



159 



sistent with propriety. However, it reached 
the general the same day. Not understanding 
the circumstances and motives which had 
produced it, and looking upon the style of 
the letter as a breach of military etiquette, he 
immediately despatched Colonel Wills, escort- 
ed by a corps of dragoons, with a letter to 
Major Croghan, requiring him to give up the 
command of the fort to Colonel Wills, and to 
repair to head-quarters. He did so; and hav- 
ing explained his motives in writing the of- 
fensive note, the explanations were deemed 
satisfactory, and the next morning he was per- 
mitted to return to his command, with written 
orders similar to those which he originally 
had. 

On the J St of August, the British and Indi- 
ans appeared before the fort, and demanded 
its surrender. This being refused, a cannon- 
ade was opened from the enemy's gun-boats, 
but as their guns were only six pounders, they 
did but little damage. On the evening of the 
2nd, they attempted an assault ; but being 
received by a galling fire of musketry, and 
their column being raked by a six pounder, 
the only piece of artillery in the fort, they 



160 

were repulsed with great loss, and that same 
night they made a hasty and disorderly re- 
treat. 

The gallant defence of fort Stephenson 
gained Croghan a high reputation ; but some 
of the enemies of General Harrison made it 
the occasion of severe attacks upon him. In 
these attacks, however, Croghan himself re- 
fused to join. In a letter on this subject pub- 
lished soon after, he says, — " It would be 
insincere to say that I am not flattered by 
the many handsome things which have been 
said about the defence which was made by 
the troops under my command ; but I desire 
no plaudits which are bestowed upon me at the 
expense of General Harrison. 

" I have at all times enjoyed his confidence 
as far as my rank in the army entitled me to 
it ; and on proper occasions received his 
marked attentions. I have felt the warmest 
attachment for him as a man, and my confi- 
dence in him as an able commander remains 
unshaken. I feel every assurance that he will 
at all times do me ample justice; and nothing 
could give me more pain than to see his ene- 
mies seize upon this occasion to deal out their 



161 

unfriendly feelings and acrimonious dislike ; 
and as long as he continues, (as in my hum- 
ble opinion he has hitherto done,) to make the 
wisest arrangements and the most judicious 
disposition, which the forces under his com- 
mand will justily, I shall not hesitate to unite 
with the army in bestowing upon him that 
confidence which he so richly merits, and 
which has on no occasion been withheld." 

It is proper to add, — as this subject has 
been much harped upon by General Harri- 
son's enemies, that in consequence of certain 
publications in the newspapers, all the general 
and field officers of the army united in sign- 
ing a paper, by which the general's conduct 
in this affair was cordially approved. 

About the ISth of August Commodore 
Perry with his fleet arrived off" Sandusky Bay. 
General Harrison immediately went on board 
to consult as to future operations. It was 
agreed that the commodore should go imme- 
diately in pursuit of the enemy before incum- 
bering his ships with the land forces ; but as 
the fleet was still deficient in men, the general 
agreed to furnish one hundred and fifty, to be 
selected from the whole army. This being 
13* 



162 

done, Perry sailed immediately for Maiden, 
where the British fleet was at anchor. He 
lay for some days before that place ; but find- 
ing that the enemy showed no disposition to 
come out, he returned to the anchorage at 
Put-in Bay, at that time the only harbor on 
our side of the lake. After waiting there for 
some time, he was gratified on the 10th of 
September by the appearance of the enemy ; 
and the same day was fought that celebrated 
action, by which Perry gained so much honor, 
and which resulted in the capture of the ene- 
my's whole fleet. 

In the meantime General Harrison had 
drawn together all the regular troops belong- 
ing to his army, — so many of them at least as 
had been enlisted, — and a day or two after 
Perry's victory he was joined by a strong 
corps of militia from Kentucky, commanded 
by Governor Shelby in person. The troops 
at fort Meigs joined the main army at the 
mouth of Portage river, except the mount- 
ed regiment under Colonel Johnson, which 
had orders to advance by the way of the 
river Raisin. On the 20th of September the 
general embarked with two brigades for Bass 



163 

Island; and on the two succeeding days the 
rest of the troops arrived there. On the 25th the 
whole army passed over to the Middle Sister. 
These islands were found very convenient in 
the passage of the lake, as the men were thus 
enabled to avoid sea-sickness, and to secure 
their baggage against any ordinary storm. 
On the 26th, General Harrison sailed with 
Commodore Perry in the Ariel, to reconnoitre 
Maiden and select a point of debarkation ; 
and on his return he issued a general order 
prescribing the course to be pursued by the 
troops in landing and forming in order of bat- 
tle, a paper drawn up with that clear and ac- 
curate minuteness, so necessary with troops, 
most of whose officers were wholly without ex- 
perience, and entirely unacquainted with such 
manoeuvres. 

On the 27th, the army was embarked and 
sailed for the Canada shore. Just previous to 
landing, the general circulated among the 
troops a short but spirited address, which con- 
cluded as follows : *' Kentuckians ! remember 
the river Raisin, but remember it only whilst 
the victory is suspended. The revenge of a 
soldier cannot be gratified upon a fallen ene- 



1G4 

my." The army landed in hi(,^h spirits and 
good order, but contrary to their expectations, 
without resistance. Proctor, the British com- 
mander, had burned the fort and navy-yard, 
barracks and public store-houses, and had re- 
treated to Sandwich. The army encamped 
that night on the ruins of fort Maiden, and 
the next day entered Sandwich, which by this 
time had been evacuated by Proctor. General 
McArthur's briorade crossed over and took 
possession of Detroit ; and the same evening 
General Harrison issued a proclamation re- 
establishing the civil government of the terri- 
tory of Michigan. On the 1st of October 
Colonel Johnson with his mounted regiment 
joined the army at Sandwich, and the pursuit 
of Proctor was immediately commenced. He 
had retreated up the river Thames, and after 
a severe pursuit, was overtaken on the 5th, 
near the Moravian towns. Proctor was 
strongly posted in an open wood, with his left 
resting on the river, and supported by artille- 
ry, and his right extending to a swamp which 
stretched along at a great distance parallel to 
the river. This swamp was occupied by a 
strong body of Indians under the celebrated 
Tecumthe. ''--< 



165 



General Harrison drew up his infantry, one 
division, extending in a double line from the 
river to the swamp, opposite Proctor's troops ; 
and the other division at right angles to the 
first, with its front extending along the swamp, 
with the view of preventing the Indians from 
turning his left flank and getting into the rear. 

Johnson's mounted regiment which led in 
the pursuit, was still in front of the infantry, 
and the general was somewhat at a loss how 
to dispose of it to advantage. But learning 
that the British regulars, to enable them to 
occupy all the ground between the river and 
the swamp, had been formed in open order, 
he resolved to try what effect upon them a 
charge by the mounted men would have. The 
regiment was accordingly drawn up in close 
column, and charging through the enemy's 
ranks, threw them into confusion, formed in 
their rear, and so far as the regulars were con- 
cerned, ended the battle almost in a moment. 
The British officers seeing no hopes of rallying 
their men, immediately surrendered. Proctor 
with a few attendants, escaped by the fleet- 
ness of their horses. 

The contest with the Indians on the left 



166 

was more severe. They advanced and poured 
in a galling fire not only upon the left of the 
mounted men, but also upon the infantry, and 
for a moment made some impression upon the 
left flank. Additional troops, however, were 
brought up, and being received with a severe 
fire in front, while a part of Johnson's regi- 
ment in the mean time had gained their rear, 
the Indians retreated with much precipita- 
tion, and severe loss. 

In this battle fell Tecumthe, the celebrated 
Indian chief, who, ever since the commence- 
ment of the war, had been zealously employ- 
ed on behalf of the British. The British 
government, sensible of the service he had 
rendered, granted a pension to his widow and 
children, who after the war resided for some 
time in the vicinity of Maiden. The prophet 
lived also at the same place, supported in like 
manner by a British pension. After his 
brother's death, however, his communications 
with the Great Spirit came to an end ; and he 
no longer possessed any influence or conse- 
quence among the Indians. 

All the stores and artillery of the British 
army, as well as a great quantity of small arms, 



1G7 



fell into the hands of the victorious troops. 
Among the artillery were three brass pieces, 
trophies of the revolutionary war, which were 
taken at Saratoga and Yorktown, and which 
had been surrendered by General Hull. 

It was always a rule with General Harrison 
on all occasions, to favor himself in nothing, 
but to share equally with the common soldiers 
the fatio-ues and hardships of the service. 
Upon the expedition up the Thames in pursuit 
of General Proctor, all his baggage was con- 
tained in a valise, while his bedding consisted 
of a single blanket fastened over his saddle, 
and even this he gave to Colonel Evans, a 
British officer, who was wounded and taken 
prisoner. On the night after the battle he 
had thirty -five British officers, prisoners of 
war, to sup with him. All the fare he was 
able to izive them was fresh beef roasted be- 
fore the fire, without either bread or salt. 
This had been the subsistence of the army 
during the pursuit, and the rations of the 
general were exactly those of the soldiers. 
Indeed he made it a point on every occasion, 
to set an example of fortitude and patience 
to his men, and to share with them every 



168 



hardship, difficulty and danger. Whether 
marching or in camp, the whole army was 
regularly under arms at day-break ; and how- 
ever severe the weather, he never failed to be 
out himself, and indeed was generally the first 
officer on horseback in the whole army. 

The troops, on their return, arrived at Sand- 
wich on the 10th, when they were transported 
across the straight to Detroit, and the Ken- 
tucky volunteers were dismissed. The Indi- 
an tribes, now that their British allies could 
support them no longer, sent in to the general 
to ask for peace. An armistice was granted 
them, and the subject of a final arrangement 
was referred to the government at Washing- 
ton. 

As the Northwestern frontier had now as- 
sumed a peaceful aspect, and as it was too 
late in the season to send an expedition against 
the posts on the, upper lakes, which were still 
held by the British, General Harrison deter- 
mined to take a part of the troops to the Niag- 
ara frontier, to assist in the operations going 
on in that quarter. General Cass was left, 
with his brigade, to protect the territory of 
Michigan, and that part of Upper Canada 



\ 



169 



which had submitted to the American arms. 
The rest of the troops, to the number of fifteen 
hundred men, were embarked on board the 
fleet, and arrived at Buffalo on the 24th of 
October. Thence he marched to Newark, a 
village on the Canadian side, near the outlet 
of the Niagara river, at that time held by the 
Americans, and he was preparing for an at- 
tack on the British forces at Burlington 
Heights, when he received orders from the 
war department to send his troops to Sackett's 
harbor for the defence of that place. He 
accompanied the troops thither, and then pro- 
ceeded to Washington by the way of New 
York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. In all 
those cities he was received with the highest 
honors and most distinguished respect. He 
remained in Washington but a few days, when 
he departed for Ohio at the urgent request of 
the president, who considered his presence 
there of importance, both as regarded the 
peace of the frontier, and towards the filling 
up of the regiments intended to be raised in 
the Western States. 

General John Armstrong was at this time 
the Secretary of War, — a person principally 
14 



170 

known for his attempts to stir up a mutiny in 
the revohitionary army, when it was about to 
be disbanded after tiie peace of 1783. He 
seems from the becrinninrj to have conceived 
some prejudice against General Harrison, and 
theplanofthe campaign, for I8l4,as submitted 
by him to the president, authorized the infer- 
ence that Harrison wonkl not be employed in 
any active service, but would be restricted to 
the command of the eighth military district, 
including Ohio, Indiana, and other Western 
States. The Secretary also interfered during 
the winter, more than once, with the internal 
arrangements of the district which Harrison 
commanded, in a manner contrary to all mili- 
tary etiquette. Under these circumstances^ 
General Harrison determined to resign his 
commission. It would indeed have been very 
convenient for him to have enjoyed the rank 
and emoluments of a major general, residing 
too at Cincinnati, where his family were; but 
under the circumstances, he felt that it would 
be a degradation to continue to hold his com- 
mission. He had no inclination for a nominal 
command, or to receive pay for services which 
he did not perform. Accordingly he address- 



171 

ed a letter ofreslgnation to the Secretary, and 
a notification of it to the President. As soon 
as Governor Siielby heard of this affair, he 
sent a letter of remonstrance to the president 
against the acceptance of Harrison's resigna- 
tion. But the president was away on a visit 
to Virginia, and in his absence, and without 
consulting with him, the secretary saw fit to 
accept the resignation. The president ex- 
pressed his great regret that the letter of Gov- 
ernor Shelby had not been received earlier, 
as in that case the valuable services of General 
Harrison would have been preserved to the 
country for the ensuing campaign. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Harrison appointed a commissioner to treat with the 
Indians — Is elected to Congress — He demands an in- 
vestigation of his conduct as commander of the North- 
western army — His militia bill — Pensions — General 
Jackson and the Seminole War — He is elected to the 
Senate of Ohio — Is chosen a Senator of the United 
States — Is appointed Minister to Colombia — His letter 
to Bolivar — His employments since his recall — His per- 
son and character — His letter to Harmar Denny. 

Though General Harrison had retired from 
the army, he still continued to be employed 



172 



in the service of his country. In the summer 
of 1814, in conjunction with Governor Shelby 
and General Cass, he was appointed to treat 
with the Indian tribes on the Northwestern 
frontier, who had been engaged in hostilities 
against the United States. The commission- 
ers succeeded in concluding a treaty at Green- 
ville, by which most of these tribes, — whom 
it was found impossible to keep neutral while 
a war was going on in their neighborhood, — 
agreed to take up arms in favor of the United 
States. 

In 1815, after the peace with Great Britain, 
it became necessary in conformity with one 
of the articles of the treaty of Ghent, to offer 
to the several tribes who had taken part with 
the enemy, the restoration of the territories 
from which they had been expelled in conse- 
quence of the successful operations of General 
Harrison's army. General Harrison was plac- 
ed at the head of the commission appointed 
for this purpose, and a treaty with the tribes 
interested was made the same year at Detroit* 

In 1816, General Harrison was elected a 
member of the House of Representatives of 
the United States, to fill a vacancy, and also 
for the succeeding two years. 



173 

It has been observed, — and the truth of the 
observation is amply verified in the case of 
General Harrison, — that in proportion to the 
merits and services of a public man, are the 
envy, malice and hatred with which, on the 
part of certain persons, he is always pursued. 
In the command of the Northwestern army, 
General Harrison was obliged to make many 
enemies. It was impossible for him to retain 
the good will of those government contractors 
whose outraireous frauds he detected and ex- 
posed ; and he naturally fell under the dis- 
pleasure of certain officers of the militia, whose 
total ignorance and incompetency frequently 
subjected them to the notice of the com- 
mander-in-chief. Add to this the effect of 
that disposition, always so prevalent, to as- 
sume the part of a critic and a censor, and to 
detract even from the just merits of those 
whose reputation overshadows us ; and allow 
further for the bitter party spirit which pre- 
vailed at that time, and which led those who 
were opposed to the war to circulate, if not to 
invent, the most unfounded calumnies against 
all those who were engaged in its prosecu- 
tion ; — take all these things into consideration, 
14* 



174 

and it will not be remarkable that, with all 
the popularity which General Harrison so just- 
ly enjoyed, there was a counter current of 
zealous and bitter dislike. 

Some time previous to his election to Con- 
gress one of the army contractors, whose un- 
just gains had been diminished by General 
Harrison's vifjilance, undertook to insinuate 
that his conduct had been partial and unjust, 
if not corrupt, with respect to the commissa- 
riat of the army. He had no sooner taken 
his seat in the House, than he resolved that 
this charge thus specifically made, should be 
forthwith investigated ; and for that purpose, 
he asked for a committee. A committee of 
seven was accordingly appointed, of which 
Richard M. Johnson, (now Vice President 
of the United States,) was chairman ; and 
after a thorough inquiry into the whole sub- 
ject, and the examination of many witnesses, 
they made a unanimous report, in which they 
exculpated General Harrison in the fullest 
manner from all the charges brought against 
him, and paid a high compliment to his patri- 
otism, disinterestedness, and devotion to the 
public service. 



175 

This calumny, and some others circulated 
at the same time, had produced a serious in- 
jury to General Harrison. They had caused 
the postponement of a resolution introduced 
ioto the United States Senate, for giving him 
the gold medal and the thanks of Congress. 
As these calumnies were now silenced, the 
resolution was again called up. It passed the 
Senate unanimously, and was concurred in 
by the House, with but a single dissenting 
vote. 

Th^re were two great political objects which 
General Harrison had much at heart, and 
which he hoped his seat in the House might 
aid him in accomplishing. One was, a re- 
form of the militia s)stem ; and the other, the 
relief of the veteran soldiers who had served 
in the revolutionary armies, as well as of those 
who had been wounded or otherwise disabled 
in the late war. 

With respect to the existing militia system, 
no one had lately had greater experience than 
General Harrison of its total inefficiency. He 
was appointed chairman of a committee to 
take the subject into consideration, and sub- 
sequently brought in a bill, accompanied with 



176 



an explanatory report, in which he maintained 
the following points : — 1st, that a government 
constituted like ours should rely upon its 
militia for its defence, rather than on a stand- 
ing army ; 2nd, that the militia, to be availa- 
ble, must be disciplined ; and 3dly, that dis- 
cipline can only be attained by a regular sys- 
tem of military instruction. The bill, the 
provisions of which were founded upon these 
general principles, was submitted to the exe- 
cutive, and was highly approved by all the 
heads of departments. It was supported by 
General Harrison in an eloquent speech. But 
Congress has always displayed a great aver- 
sion for any legislation on the subject of the 
militia. At this time, just escaped from a 
war, and weary of military details of which 
few of the members had any personal know- 
ledge, the subject was particularly unpalata- 
ble ; and General Harrison's bill, after being 
postponed from session to session, was finally 
dropped for want of some one to sustain it, 
after he had left Congress. 

In his other object he was more successful. 
His efforts joined with those of several other 
members, succeeded in procuring the passage 



177 

of a law, by which the first step was taken 
toward rescuing the aged heroes of the revo- 
lution from the poverty and distress under 
which they had so long suffered. By his ex- 
ertions also the pensions of many invalids 
who had been severely wounded in the last 
war, were increased ; and he introduced, sus- 
tained by an eloquent speech, and carried 
through the House, under very unfavorable 
circumstances, and in spite of a vigorous op- 
position, a bill for extending the pensions of 
the widows and orphans of those who had 
been killed in the service. 

The question of acknowledging the inde- 
pendence of the South American Republics 
coming up while he was a member of the 
House, he warmly supported that measure. 
There also occurred during his membership 
that celebrated debate on the Seminole war, 
upon which subject he delivered an ^eloquent 
speech. He supported the resolutions of cen- 
sure, on the ground that a republican govern- 
ment should make no distinction between 
men ; and should allow no man to say that 
he could do that with impunity which another 
could not do. " No one," he added, in a 



178 

spirit somewhat prophetic, '* no one can tell 
how soon such an example may be beneficial." 
But while he sustained the resolutions of cen- 
sure, he refused to join in the indiscriminate 
blame which was levelled at their object. 
He defended such of Jackson's acts as he 
thought right, and gave him credit for patri- 
otic motives. The speech was moderate, man- 
ly and candid ; but General Jackson never 
forgot, nor forgave it. 

In 1819, General Harrison was elected a 
member of the State Senate of Ohio, an office 
which he held for two years. In 1824, he 
was elected to the Senate of the United States ; 
and was appointed chairman of the military 
committee in place of General Jackson, who 
had resigned. 

As chairman of that committee he intro- 
duced a bill for preventing desertion from the 
army, which object he proposed to effect, not 
by an increase of punishment, but by elevating 
the moral character of the army — by raising 
the rank and increasing the pay of the non- 
commissioned officer^ thus giving him conse- 
quence and respectability in his own eyes ; 
and by holding out to the soldier additional in- 



179 



ducements and motives for a faithful perfor- 
mance of his duty. This bill he supported in 
a well considered and animated speech. He 
also gave much time and attention to the con- 
solidation of the pension acts, and the passage 
of a uniform law to embrace the cases of aU 
who should be deserving of that sort of justice 
from their country. 

In 1828, General Harrison was appointed 
minister plenipotentiary to the Republic of 
Colombia. He proceeded immediately upon 
his mission ; landed at Maracaybo on the 22d 
December, and from that place repaired to 
Bogota, the capital of Colombia. He vvas re- 
ceived there with the most flattering demon- 
strations of respect; but his republican ideas, 
and the plain simplicity of his dress and man- 
ners, contrasted somewhat too strongly with 
the arbitrary opinions and the ostentatious 
display which prevailed at the court of Boli- 
var, to be altogether agreeable to those who at 
that time had engrossed the powers of the Co- 
lombian government. They suspected him of 
favoring the opposite party in the state, and 
commenced a series of petty persecutions 
which rendered his situation extremely irk- 



180 

some, but against which he sustained himself 
with his usual gallantry and prudence. He 
was soon relieved, iiowever from all embarrass- 
ments on this score ; for one of the first acts 
of Jackson's administration was the recall of 
General Harrison from Colombia. His speech 
on the Seminole war had not been foro-otten. 
Before leaving the country, however, he 
addressed a letter to Bolivar, which has been 
much and deservedly celebrated. The Re- 
public of Colombia was formed by the union 
of Venezuela, New Grenada, and a part of 
the old vice-royalty of Peru, (now called 
Equador,) provinces which have since sepa- 
rated and formed independent governments. 
There were two great parties in the state, 
one composed principally of the military and 
the priests, who were in favor of a strong and 
splendid government, with a plentiful infusion 
of aristocratical principles. The other party, 
which has ultimately prevailed in all the states 
of which Colombia was composed, was much 
more democratic in its ideas, and made the 
institutions of the United States their model. 
Bolivar, the president of Colombia, was strong- 
ly inclined to think and act with the first de- 



181 

scribed of these two parties, and was much 
flattered by those who composed it. In con- 
sequence of some disturbances in Venezuela, 
he had been clothed with extraordinary pow- 
ers, which he still continued to exercise, not- 
withstanding the disturbances were entirely 
suppressed; and a project was now set on 
foot to put the constitution aside altogether, 
and to raise Bolivar to a dictatorship. This 
project originated with the members of the 
aristocratical party, who flattered themselves 
that as the officers, agents, and servants of 
a despotic executive, they might exercise 
much more power, and enjoy many more 
privileges, than they ever could under a free 
constitution. While this matter was in agi- 
tation, General Harrison, not in his diplomatic 
character, but as the personal friend of Bolivar, 
addressed him a letter animated throuo-hout 
with the true spirit of republican freedom, and 
written in a strain of eloquence which has 
seldom been surpassed. The following is the 
concluding portion of it : — 

" I propose to examine, very briefly, the 
results which are likely to flow from the pro- 
posed change of government ; 1st, in relation 
15 



182 



to the country ; and 2d, to yourself, personally. 
Is the tranquillity of the country to be secured 
by it? Is it possible for your Excellency to 
believe, that when the mask has been thrown 
off, and the people discover that a despotic 
government has been fixed upon them, that 
they will quietly submit to it? Will they for- 
get the pass-word which, like the cross of fire, 
was the signal for rallying to oppose their for- 
mer tyrants ? Will the virgins at your bid- 
ding, cease to chaunt the songs of liberty, 
which so lately animated the youth to victory 1 
Was the patriotic blood of Colombia all ex- 
pended in the fields of Vargas, Bayaca, and 
Carebobo ? The schools may cease to en- 
force upon their pupils, the love of country, 
drawn from the examples of Cato and the 
Bruti, Harmodius and Aristogiton ; but the 
glorious example of patriotic devotion exhibit- 
ed in your own Hacienda, will supply their 
place. Depend on it, sir, that the moment 
which shall announce the continuance of ar- 
bitrary power in your hands, will be the com- 
mencement of commotions which will require 
all your talents and energies to suppress. You 
may succeed, the disciplined army at your 



183 

disposal, may be too powerful for an unarmed, 
undisciplined and scattered population ; but 
one unsuccessful effort will not content them, 
and your feelings will be eternally racked by 
being obliged to make war upon those who 
have been accustomed to call you their father, 
and to invoke blessings on your head, and for 
no cause but their adherence to principles 
which you yourself had taught them to regard 
more than their lives. 

" If by the strong government which the ad- 
vocates for the proposed change so strenuous- 
ly recommend, one without responsibility is 
intended, which may put men to death and 
immure them in dungeons, without trial, and 
one where the army is every thing, and the 
people nothing, I must say, that, if the tran- 
quillity of Colombia is to be preserved in this 
way, the wildest anarchy would be preferable. 
Out of that anarchy a better government 
might arise ; but the chains of military despot- 
ism once fastened upon a nation, ages might 
pass away before they could be shaken off. 

" But I contend that the strongest of-^ll gov- 
ernments is that which is most free. We con- 
sider that of the United States as the strongest 



184 

precisely because it is the most free. It pos- 
sesses the faculties, equally to protect itself 
from foreign force or internal convulsion. In 
both it has been sufficiently tried. In no 
country upon earth, would an armed opposi- 
tion to the laws be sooner or more effectual- 
ly put down. Not so much by the terrors of 
the guillotine or the gibbet, as from the arous- 
ed determination of the nation, exhibiting 
their strength, and convincing the factious 
that their cause was hopeless. No, sir, de- 
pend upon it, that the possession of arbitrary 
power, by the government of Colombia, will 
not be the means of securing its tranquillity ; 
nor will the danger of disturbances solely arise 
from the opposition of the people. The pow- 
er and the military force which it will be ne- 
cessary to put in the hands of the governors of 
the distant provinces, added to the nature of 
the country, will continually present to those 
officers the temptation and the means of re- 
volt. 

*• Will the proposed change restore prosperity 
to the. country? With the best intentions to 
do so, will you be able to recall commerce to 
its shores and give new life to the drooping 



1S5 



state of agriculture ? The cause of the con- 
stant decline in these great interests, cannot be 
mistaken. It arises from the fewness of those 
who labor, and the number of those who are 
to be supported by that labor. To support a 
swarm of luxurious and idle monks, and an 
army greatly disproportioned to the resources 
of the country, with a body of officers in a 
tenfold degree disproportioned to the army, 
every branch of industry is oppressed with 
burthens which deprive the ingenious man of 
the profits of his ingenuity, and the laborer of 
his reward. To satisfy the constant and pressing 
demands which are made upon it, the treasury 
seizes upon every thing within its grasp — de- 
stroying the very germ of future prosperity Is 
there any prospect that these evils will cease with 
the proposed change ? Can the army be dis- 
pensed with ? Will the influence of the monks 
be no longer necessary ? Believe me, sir, that 
the support which the government derives 
from both these sources, will be more than 
ever requisite. 

" But the most important inquiry is, the ef- 
fect which this strong government is to have 

upon the people themselves. Will it tend to 
15* 



186 



improve and elevate their character, and fit 
them for the freedom which it is pretended is 
ultimately to be bestowed upon them ? The 
question has' been answered from the age of 
Homer. Man does not learn under oppression 
those noble qualities and feelings which fit 
him for the enjoyment of liberty. Nor is des- 
potism the proper school in which to acquire 
the knowledge of the principles of republican 
government. A government whose revenues 
are derived from diverting the very sources of 
wealth from its subjects, will not find the 
means of improving the morals and enlighten- 
ing the minds of the youth, by supporting sys- 
tems of liberal education ; and, if it could, it 
would not. 

*' In relation to the effect which this invest- 
ment of power is to have upon your happiness 
and your fame, will the pomp and glitter of a 
court, and the flattery of venal courtiers, re- 
ward you for the troubles and anxieties atten- 
dant upon the exercise of sovereignty, every- 
where, and those which will flow from your 
peculiar situation ? Or power, supported by 
the bayonet, for that willing homage which 
you were wont to receive from your fellow-cit- 



187 

izens? The groans of a dissatisfied and op- 
pressed people will penetrate the inmost re- 
cesses of your palace, and you will be tortured 
by the reflection, that you no longer possess 
that place in their affections, which was once 
your pride and your boast, and which would 
have been your solace under every reverse of 
fortune. Unsupported by the people, your 
authority can be maintained, only, by the ter- 
rors of the sword and the scaffold. And have 
these ever been successful under similar cir- 
cumstances ? Blood may smother for a period, 
but can never extinguish the fire of liberty, 
which you have contributed so much to kindle 
in the bosom of every Colombian. 

*' I will not urge as an argument the person- 
al dangers to which you will be exposed. But 
I will ask if you could enjoy life, which would 
be preserved by the constant execution of so 
many human beings — your countrymen, your 
former friends, and almost your worshippers. 
The pangs of such a situation will be made 
more acute, by reflecting on the hallowed mo- 
tive of many of those who would aim their 
daggers at your bosom. That, like the last 
of the Romans, they would strike, not from 
hatred to the man, but love to the country. 



188 

" From a knowledge of yourown disposition, 
and present feelings, your Excellency will not 
be willing to believe, that you could ever be 
brought to commit an act of tyranny, or even 
to execuie justice with unnecessary rigor. 
But trust me, sir, that there is nothing more 
corrupting, nothing more destructive of the 
noblest and finest feelings of our nature, than 
^/l the exercise of unlimited power. The man 
who, in the beginning of such a career, might 
shudder at the idea of taking away the life of 
a fellow being, might soon have his conscience 
so seared by the repetition of crime, that the 
agonies of his murdered victims might become 
music to his soul, and the drippings of his 
scaffold afford " blood enough to swim in." 
History is full of such examples. 

*' From this disgusting picture, permit me to 
call the attention of your Excellency to one of 
a different character. It exhibits you as the 
constitutional chief magistrate of a free people. 
Giving to their representatives the influence 
of your great name and talents, to reform the 
abuses which, in a long reign of tyranny and 
misrule, have fastened upon every branch of 
the administration. The army, and its swarm 



189 

of officers, reduced within the limits of real 
usefulness, placed on the frontiers, and no 
longer permitted to control public opinion, 
and be the terror of the peaceful citizen. By 
the removal of this incubus from the treasury, 
and the establishment of order, responsibility, 
and economy, in the expenditures of the gov- 
ernment, it would soon be enabled to dispense 
with the odious monopolies, and the duty of 
the Jllcavala, which have operated with so ma- 
lign an effect upon commerce and agricul- 
ture, and, indeed, upon the revenues which 
they were intended to augment. No longer 
oppressed by these shackles, industry would 
everywhere revive ; the farmer and the arti- 
zan, cheered by the prospect of ample reward 
for their labor, would redouble their exertions, 
foreigners, with their capital and skill in the 
arts, would crowd hither to enjoy the advan- 
tao"es which could scarcely elsewhere be 
found ; and Colombia would soon exhibit the 
reality of the beautiful fiction of Fenelon — ' Sa- 
lentum rising from misery and oppression, to 
prosperity and happiness, under the councils 
and direction of the concealed goddess.' 
" What objections can be urged against this 



190 

course? Can any one, acquainted with the 
circumstances of the country, doubt its suc- 
cess, in maintaining and restoring tranquillity 1 
The people would certainly not revolt against 
themselves ; and none of the chiefs who are 
supposed to be factiously inclined, would think 
of opposing the strength of the nation, when 
directed by your talents and authority. But 
it is said, that the want of intelligence amongst 
the people unfits them for the government. 
Is it not right, however, that the experiment 
should be fairly tried ? I have already said, 
that this has not been done. For myself, 1 
do not hesitate to declare my firm belief, that 
it will succeed. The people of Colombia pos- 
sess many traits of character, suitable for a 
republican government. A more orderly, for- 
bearing, and well-disposed people are nowhere 
to be met with. Indeed, it may safely be as- 
serted, that their faults and vices are attribu- 
table to the cursed government to which they 
have been so long subjected, and to the intol- 
erant character of the religion, whilst their 
virtues are all their own. But, admitting their 
present want of intelligence, no one has ever 
doubted their capacity to acquire knowledge 



191 

and under the strong motives which exist to 
obtain it, supported by the influence of your 
Excellency, it would soon be obtained. 

** To yourself, the advantage would be as 
great as to the country ; like acts of mercy, 
the blessing would be reciprocal ; your per- 
sonal happiness secured, and your fame ele- 
vated to a heicrht which would leave but a sin- 
gle competitor in the estiniaiion of posterity. 
In bestowing the palm of merit, ihe world has 
become wiser than formerly. The successful %A 
warrior is no longer regarded as entitled to the 
first place in the temple of fame. Tafentsof this 
kind have become too common, and too often 
used for mischievous purposes, to be regarded as 
they once were. In this enlightened age, the 
mere hero of the field, and the successful lead- 
er of armies, may, for the moment, attract at- 
tention. But it will be such as is bestowed 
on the passing meteor, whose blaze is no long- 
er remembered, when it is no longer seen. 
To be esteemed eminently great, it is neces- 
sary to be eminently good. The qualities of 
the hero and the general must be devoted 
to the advantage of mankind, before he will 
be permitted to assume the title of their bene- 



J 92 



factor ; and the station which he will hold in 
their regard and affections will depend, not 
upon the number and the splendor of his vic- 
tories, but upon the results and the use he may 
make of the influence he acquires from them. 
**If the fame of our Washington depended 
upon his military achievements, would the 
common consent of the world allow him the 
pre-eminence he possesses? The victories at 
Trenton, Monmouth, and York, brilliant as 
they were, exhibiting, as they certainly did, 
the highest grade of military talents, are 
scarcely thought of The source of the vene- 
ration and esteem which is entertained for his 
character, by every description of politicians ; 
the monarchist and aristocrat, as well as the 
republican, is to be found in his undeviating 
and exclusive devoted ness to the interest of 
his country. No selfish consideration was 
ever suffered to intrude itself into his mind. 
For his country he conquered ; and the unri- 
valled and increasing prosperity of that country 
is constantly adding fresh glory to his name. 
General ; the course which he pursued is open 
to you, and it depends upon yourself to attain 
the eminence he has reached before you. 



193 

" To the eyes of military men, the laurels 
you won on the fields of Vargas, Bayaca, 
and Carebobo, will be forever green ; but 
will that content you? Are you willing that 
your name should descend to posterity, 
amongst the mass of those whose fame has 
been derived from shedding human blood, with- 
out a sincrle advantao;e to the human race 1 Or. 
shall it be united to that of Washington, as 
the founder and the father of a great and 
happy people ? The choice is before you. 
The friends of liberty throughout the world, 
and the people of the United States in partic- 
ular, are waiting your decision with intense 
anxiety. Alexander toiled and conquered to 
attain the applause of the Athenians; will 
you regard as nothing the opinions of a nation 
which has evinced its superiority over that 
celebrated people, in the science most useful 
to man, by having carried into actual practice 
a system of government, of which tije wisest 
Athenians had but a glimpse in theory, and 
considered as a blessincr never to be realized 
however ardently to be desired ? The place 
which you are to occupy in their esteem de- 
pends upon yourself. Farewell. 

" W. H. Harrison." 
16 



194 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Employments of General Harrison since his recall from 
Colombia — His person and character — Is nominated 
for the Presidency — His letter to Harmar Denny. 

Since General Harrison's return from Co- 
lombia he has taken no active part in public 
life or political affairs, but has lived retired 
upon his farm at North Bend, on the Ohio, 
some miles below Cincinnati. Having never 
been rich, he was induced as a means of sup- 
porting that plain but ample hospitality in 
which he has ever indulged, to accept the of- 
fice of clerk to the court of the county in 
which he resides, which office he still con- 
tinues to hold. Those who acquire splendid 
fortunes by speculations on the public treasu- 
ry, and those who regard as a mark of great- 
ness, an indolent dependence on the contri- 
butions of private or political friends, may rid- 
icule the man who secures for himself comfort 
and independence, by the acceptance of a 
county clerkship; but no true republican, cer- 
tainly, will ever think it a matter of reproach, 
that after passing so many years in the public 
service, and enjoying so many opportunities 



195 

to enrich himself, General Harrison should 
still remain poor ; and still less will it be re- 
garded as derogatory to his character, that he 
chooses to supply the deficiencies of his for- 
tune by the honest exertion of his talents and 
industry in a useful and respectable employ- 
ment. 

But although General Harrison has never 
suffered a feeling of false pride to influence 
his conduct, both in his public and in private 
life he has ever exhibited the utmost delicacy 
of honor in all his pecuniary transactions. 

Some years ago, it was ascertained that a 
large tract of land, near Cincinnati, which 
had been sold long before for a mere trifle, un- 
der an execution against the original proprie- 
tor, could not be held under that sale on ac- 
count of some informality in the proceedings. 
The legal title was in General Harrison and 
-another gentleman who were the heirs at law. 
The value of this land had risen greatly, 
and was sufficient to form princely estates for 
these heirs, had they chosen to insist upon 
their legal rights. But under the circumstan- 
ces, and as against the present holders, Gen- 
eral Harrison did not think it just to insist 



196 

upon his legal claim, and he induced his co- 
heir to join with him in executing deeds of 
quit-claim to the land, without demanding any 
other consideration except a iew hundred dol- 
lars, being the difference between the price 
for which the land sold under the execution, 
and its actual value at the time of that sale. 
There were, however, included in the tract, 
twelve acres, which were General Harrison's 
private property, by donation from his father- 
in-law, and which were improperly included 
in the sale made by the sheriff under the ex- 
ecution. This land he might have reclaimed 
both legally and equitably ; but such was his 
nice feeling of honor, and scrupulous regard 
for the rights of others, that he suffered this to 
go with the rest, receiving only the difference 
between the amount for which this land sold 
and its actual value at the time of the sale. 
These twelve acres thus relinquished are said 
to be now worth one hundred thousand dol- 
lars. 

For his services as commander of the expe- 
dition to Tippecanoe, General Harrison never 
asked nor received any compensation ; and 
the expenses which he was obliged to incur 



197 



as commander of the Northwestern army, so 
far exceeded his pay, that he found it neces- 
sary to sell a fine tract of land in order to meet 
them. Thus, during those campaigns, he 
not only risked his life, and gave the labor of 
his days and nights to the public service, but 
he contributed also a considerable portion of 
his small estate to sustain his country in that 
hour of peril. 

In person. General Harrison is tall and 
slender. Although he never had the appear- 
ance of possessing a robust constitution, yet 
such have been the effects of habitual activity 
and temperance, that few men at his age, en- 
joy so much bodily vigor. He has a fine dark 
eye, remarkable for its keenness, fire, and in- 
telligence, and his face is strongly expressive 
of the vivacity of his mind, and the benevo- 
lence of his character. 

The most remarkable traits of General Har- 
rison, and those by which he has been distin- 
guished throughout his whole career, are his dis- 
interestedness, his regard for the comforts and 
the rights of others, his generous disposition, his 
mild and forbearing temper, his plain, easy 
and unostentatious manners. Though warm 
16* 



198 



in his attachments, he has never been violent 
or vindictive in his enmities. In a long life 
spent on the utmost frontier, and in constant 
collision with men, fierce, turbulent, and un- 
governable, his moderation, and the reasonable- 
ness and justice of his conduct, have prevented 
him from being involved in any way in duels, 
or personal rencontres so common in those re- 
gions. He has always been able to guard his 
rights and sustain his position without having 
recourse to pistols or uirks. In the exercise 
of that almost unlimited authority which was 
at times conferred upon him, he displayed his 
moderation by conforming himself to a rigid 
observance of existing statutes and the rights 
of the citizens.; nor did he ever find it neces- 
sary, in the course of his military career, to 
set at defiance either the law of nations, or the 
civil laws of the state. 

General Harrison never has been much 
connected with political parties. He never 
has become the favorite leader of a faction, 
upon whom the most elaborate flatteries are 
exhausted by a body of devoted partizans. 
His services have not been services to a party 
but services to the country. He stands free 



199 

and untrammelled, ready, and able to serve 
his country again. Where can be found a man 
whose patriotism has been so thoroughly tried 
and proved — whose integrity, moderation and 
attachment to the interests of the people, are 
so unquestionable, or who is so well able to 
concentrate about hirn the great mass of hon- 
est and intelligent citizens, and with their aid 
and support, to rescue the constitution, so 
much endangered of late by party violence, 
and executive usurpation? 

As General Harrison obtained the civil and 
military promotion which he has at times enjoy- 
ed, not by any party arrangements or system of 
underhand manoeuvres, but through the spon- 
taneous confidence and voluntary choice of his 
fellow citizens, so the circumstances under 
which he has become a candidate for the pre- 
sidency are of the same character. The prin- 
ciples upon which he would be likely to admin- 
ister the government, should he ever enjoy the 
opportunity, may be judged of from the fol- 
lowing letter of his to Harmar Denny in re- 
ply to a letter of that gentleman, informing 
him of the doings of the antimasonic conven- 
tion assembled at Philadelphia : — 



200 

" North Bend, 2d Dec, 1S3S, 
" Dear Sir : — As it is probable that you have 
by this time returned to Pittsburg, I do myself 
the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
letter from Philadelphia, containing the pro- 
ceedings of the national democratic antima- 
sonic convention, which lately convened in 
that city. With feelings of the deepest grati- 
tude, T read the resolution unanimously 
adopted, nominating me as a candidate for the 
President of the United States. This is the 
second time that I have received from that 
patriotic party, of which you yourself are a 
distinguished member, the highest evidence 
of confidence that can be given to a citizen 
of our Republic. I would attempt to describe 
my sense of the obligations I owe them, if I 
were not convinced that any language which 
I could command would fall far short of what 
I really feel. If, however, the wishes of the 
convention should be realized, and if I should 
second their efforts, 1 shall have it in my pow- 
er to manifest my gratitude in a manner more 
acceptable to those whom you represent, than 
by any professions of it which I could at this 
time make ; I mean by exerting my utmost 



201 

efforts to carry out the principles set forth in 
their resolutions, by arresting the progress of 
the measures " destructive to the prosperity 
of the people, and tending to the subversion of 
their liberties," and substituting for them 
those sound democratic republican doctrines, 
upon which the administration of Jefferson 
and Madison were conducted. 

'* Among the principles proper to be adopted 
by any Executive sincerely desirous to restore 
the administration to its original simplicity and 
purity, I deem the following to be of promi- 
nent importance. 

" I. To confine his service to a single term. 

*'II. To disclaim all riciht of control over 
the public treasure, with the exception of such 
part of it as may be appropriated by law, to 
carry on the public services, and that to be ap- 
plied precisely as the law may direct, and 
drawn from the treasury agreeably to the long 
established forms of that department. 

" III. That he should never attempt to in- 
fluence the elections, either by the people or 
the state legislatures, nor suffer the federal of- 
ficers under his control to take any other part 
in them than by giving their own votes when 
they possess the right of voting. 



202 

*' IV. That in the exercise of the veto power, 
he should limit his rejection of bills to : 1st. 
Such as are in his opinion unconstitutional. 
2d. Such as tend to encroach on the rights of 
the states or individuals. 3rd. Such as in- 
volving deep interests, may in his opinion re- 
quire more mature deliberation or reference 
to the will of the people, to be ascertained at 
the succeeding elections. 

" V. That he should never suffer the influ- 
ence of his office to be used for purposes of a 
purely party character. 

"VI. That in removals from office of those 
who hold their appointments during the plea- 
sure of the Executive, the cause of such re- 
moval should be stated if requested, to the 
Senate, at the time the nomination of a suc- 
cessor is made. 

" And last, but not least in importance, 

" VII. That he should not suffer the Execu- 
tive department of the government to become 
the source of legislation ,■ but leave the whole 
business of making laws for the Union to 
the department to which the Constitution 
has exclusively assigned it, until they have 
assumed that perfected shape, where and 



203 

when alone the opinions of the Executive 
may be heard. A community of power in 
the preparation of the laws between the legis- 
lature and the Executive departments, must 
necessarily lead to dangerous combinations, 
greatly to the advantage of a president de- 
sirous of extending his power. Such a con- 
struction of the constitution could never have 
been contemplated by those who framed it, as 
they well knew that those who propose the 
bills, will always take care of themselves, or 
the interests of their constituents, and hence 
the provision in the Constitution, borrowed 
from that of England, restricting the origin- 
ating of revenue bills to the immediate repre- 
sentatives of the people. So far from agreeing 
in opinion with the distinguished character 
who lately retired from the presidency, that 
congress should have applied to him for a pro- 
ject of a banking system, I think that such an 
application would have manifested not only 
great subserviency upon the part of that body, 
but an unpardonable ignorance ofthe chief dan- 
, ger to be apprehended from such an institution. 
That danger unquestionably consists in a 
union of interests between the executive and 



204 

the bank. Would an ambitious incumbent of 
the executive chair neglect so favorable an op- 
portunity as the preparing of the law would 
give him, to insert in it provisions to secure 
his influence over it? In the authority given to 
the president by the Constitution " to recom- 
mend to congress such measures as he shall 
judge necessary and expedient," it was cer- 
tainly never intended that the measures he re- 
commended should be presented in a shape 
suited for the immediate decision of the leoris- 
lature. The sages who made the Constitution, 
too well knew the advantacjes whicli the crown 
of England derives from the exercise of this 
power by its ministers, to have intended it to 
be used by our chief magistrate, or the heads 
of departments under his control. The boasted 
principles of the English Constitution, that the 
consent of the democratic branch is not only 
necessary to receive money from the people, 
but that it is its inviolable prerogative also 
to originate all the bills for that purpose, is 
true in theory, but rendered utterly false and 
nugatory in effect, by the participation of 
the ministers of the crown in the details of 
legislation. Indeed the influence they derive 



205 

from sitting as members of the House of Com- 
mons, and from wielding the immense patron- 
age of the crown (constitutional or usurped,) 
gives them a power over that body, that ren- 
ders plausible, at least, the flattery, or as it is 
more probable, the intended sarcasm of Sir 
Walter Raleigh, in an address to James I., 
that the demand of the sovereign upon the 
Commons for pecuniary aid, was required 
only ' that the tax might seem to come from 
themselves.' 

" Having thus given you my opinion of some 
things which might be done, and others which 
should not be done, by a President coming 
into power by the support of those of the 
people who are opposed to the principles upon 
which the present administration is conducted, 
you will see that 1 have omitted one, which 
is deemed by many of as much importance as 
any other. I allude to the appointment of 
members of Congress to office by the Presi- 
dent. The Constitution contains no prohibi- 
tion of such appointments, no doubt because 
its authors could not believe in its necessity, 
from the purity of character which was mani- 
fested by those who possessed the confidence 
17 



206 

of the people at that period. It is, however^ 
an opinion very generally entertained by the 
opposition party, that the country would have 
escaped much of the evil under which it has 
suffered for some years past, if the Constitu- 
tion had contained a provision of that kind. 
Having had no opportunity of personal obser- 
vation on the conduct of the administration 
for the last ten years, I am unable to decide 
upon the truth or error of tkis opinion. But 
I should be very willing that the known sub- 
serviency of the Legislature to the Executive, 
in several memorable instances, should be ac- 
counted for in a way somewhat less injurious 
to the character of the country and of republi- 
canism itself, than by the admission that the 
fathers of the land, the trusted servants of a 
virtuous people, could be seduced from the 
path of duty and honor, by the paltry trappings 
and emoluments of dependent offices. But if 
the evil really exists, and if there be good rea- 
son to believe that its source is to be found in 
the corruptibility of the members of the Leg- 
islature, an effectual remedy cannot be too 
soon applied. And it happens in this instance 
that there is a choice of remedies. One of 



207 

those, however, Is in my opinion free from the 
objections which might be offered to the other. 
The one to whicli I object is, that which the 
late President has been so loudly called upon 
to adopt, in consequence of a promise made 
at the commencement of his administration, 
viz. that the Executive under no circum- 
stances should appoint to office a member of 
either branch of the National Leorislature. 
There are, in my mind, several weighty rea- 
sons against the adoption of this principle. I 
will detain you with the mention of but two of 
them, because I believe that you will agree 
with me, that the alternative I shall present, 
while it would be equally effectual, contains 
no feature to which a reasonable objection 
could be made. 

*' As the Constitution contains no provision 
to prevent the appointment of Members of 
Congress to office by the Executive, could the 
Executive with a due regard to delicacy and 
justice, without usurping power from the peo- 
ple, declare a disqualification which they had 
not thought necessary ? And where is the 
American citizen who regards the honor of 
his country, the character of its people, or who 



208 

believes in the superiority of a republican form 
of government, who would be willing to pro- 
claim to the world, that the youth fid nation 
which has attracted so much of its attention, 
which it has so much admired for its gigantic 
strength, its undaunted courage, its high at- 
tainments in literature and the arts, and the 
external beauty of its institutions, was within 
a mass of meanness and corruption ? That 
even the chosen servants of the people, were 
ever ready for a paltry consideration, to aban- 
don their allegiance to their lawful sovereigns, 
and to become the servants of a servant. The 
alternative to this degrading course, is to be 
found in depriving the Executive of all motive 
for acquiring an improper influence over the 
Legislature. 

^' To effect this, nothing in my opinion is 
necessary but to re-establish the principles 
upon which the adrainistration was once con- 
ducted, with a single addition of limiting the 
service of the president to one term. A con- 
densed enumeration of what I conceive these 
principles to have been, is given above. And 
I think no one can doubt, that, if faithfully 
carried out, they would be effectual in secur- 



209 

ing the independence of the Legislature, and 
confining the connection between it and the 
Executive, to that alone which is warranted 
by a fair construction of the Constitution. I 
can conceive of but two motives which could 
induce a President of the United States to en- 
deavor to procure a controlling influence over 
the Legislative body, viz. — to perpetuate his 
power, by passing laws to increase his patron- 
age — or to gratify his vanity, by obtaining their 
sanction to his schemes and projects for the 
government of the country ; and thus assimi- 
lating his situation to that of the limited mon- 
archs of Europe. The principles above sug- 
gested, would effectually destroy any disposi- 
tion of the person elected by the combined 
votes of the opposition, to place himself in 
either attitude. Retiring at the end of four 
years to private life, with no wish or prospect 
of any "son of his succeeding," legitimate or 
adopted, he would leave the government as 
prosperous and pure in its administration, as 
when it passed from the hands of the great 
"Apostle of Democracy, "to the Father of our 
Constitution. 

" To the duties which I have enumerated, so 
17* 



210 

proper in my opinion to be performed by a 
President, elected by the opposition to the 
present administration, (and which are, as 1 
believe, of constitutional obligation,) I will 
add another which I believe also to be of 
much importance. I mean the observance of 
the most conciliatory course of conduct to- 
wards our political opponents. After the cen- 
sure which our friends have so freely and so 
justly bestowed upon the present Chief Mag- 
istrate, for having, in no inconsiderable de- 
gree, disfranchised the whole body of his po- 
litical opponents, I am certain that no oppo- 
sitionists, true to the principles he professes, 
would approve a similar course of conduct in 
the person whom his vote has contributed to 
elect. In a Republic, one of the surest tests 
of a healthy state of its institutions, is to be 
found in the immunity with which every citi- 
zen may, upon all occasions, express his politi- 
cal opinions and even his prejudices, in the 
discharge of his duty as an elector. 

** The question may perhaps be asked of me, 
what security I have in my power to offer, if 
the majority of the American people should 
select me for their Chief Magistrate, that I 



211 



would adopt the principles which I have 
herein laid down as those upon which my 
administration would be conducted, I could 
only answer, by referring to my conduct, and 
the disposition manifested in the discharge of 
the duties of several important offices, which 
have heretofore been conferred upon me. If 
the power placed in my hands has, on even a 
single occasion, been used for any purpose 
other than that for which it was given, or re- 
tained longer than was necessary to accom- 
plish the objects designated by those from 
whom the trusts were received, I will acknow- 
ledge that either will constitute a sufficient 
reason for discrediting any promise I may 
make, under the circumstances in which I am 
now placed. 

« I am, dear sir, truly yours, 

" W. H. HARRISON. 
* To the Hon. Harmar Denny.' 



13 v)* 



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